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FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


Form  No.  A '368 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://archive.org/details/indiansofnorthcaOOmcph 


63d  Congress  1  SENATE  -1  ^^ocumknt 

Sd  Session     >  )    No.  677 


INDIANS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 


LETTER  FROM 
THE  SECRETARY  OF  THE  INTERIOR 

TRANSMITTING, 

IN   RESPONSE   TO  A   SENATE   RESOLUTION 
OF  JUNE  30,  1914,  A  REPORT  ON  THE  CONDI- 
TION AND  TRIBAL  RIGHTS  OF  THE  INDIANS 
OF  ROBESON  AND  ADJOINING  COUN- 
TIES OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 


January  5,  1915. — Referred  to  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs 
and  ordered  to  be  printed 

January  13,  1915. — Accompanying  illustrations  ordered  printed 


WASHINGTON 
1915 


t. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Letter  of  transmittal -.-:•-  ^ 

Report  on  condition  and  tribal  rights  of  Indians  of  Robeson  and  adjoining 

counties  in  North  Carolina 7 

Exhibit  A 32 

Al— Senate  resolution  No.  410 32 

A2— Office  instructions,  July  23, 1914 32 

A3— Eleventh  Census,  United  States,  1890 33 

Exhibit  B 36 

Bl — Petition  of  Croatan  Indians.-. 36 

B2— Office  letter  of  Hon.  J.  W.  Powell,  January  7,  1889 37 

B3— Letter  of  J.  W.  Powell  to  Indian  Office,  January  11,  1889 37 

B4— Office  letter  to  Hamilton  McMillan,  January  29,  1889 38 

B5— Letter  of  W.  L.  Moore  to  Indian  Office,  July  2,  1890 38 

B6— Office  letter  to  Hamilton  McMillan,  July  14,  1890 39 

B7— Letter  of  Hamilton  McMillan' to  Indian  Office,  July  17,  1890 39 

B8— Office  letter  to  W.  L.  Moore,  August  11,  1890 40 

Exhibit  C. — Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  Lost  Colony,  by  Hamilton  McMillan 41 

Exhibit  CC. — The  Lost  Colony  jf  Roanoke:  Its  Fate  and  Survival,  by 

Stephen  B.  Weeks 58 

Exhibit  CCC. — Extract  from  History  of  North  Carolina,  by  Samuel  A' Court 

Ashe 69 

Exhibit  D. — Notes  of  Lederer's  Travels  in  North  Carolina,  and  Comments 

by  Dr.  Hawks 88 

Exhibit  E. — Lawson's  History  of  Carolina 99 

Exhibit  F 120 

Historical  Sketch  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson  County,  by  A.  W.  McLean.  120 

Letter  of  A.  W.  McLean,  dated  September  7,  1914 128 

Statement  by  Wash  Lowrie,  a  Robeson  County  Indian 131 

Office  letter  of  September  14,  1914,  to  A.  W.  McLean 132 

Exhibit  G.— History  of  the  Cherokee  Indians  (from  Nineteenth  Annual 

Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology) 133 

Exhibit  H. — History  of  the  Tugcaroras  (from  Handbook  of  American  In- 
dians)   180 

Exhibit  I. — History  of  the  Old  Cherawa  (from  Greggs'  History  of  the  Old 

Cheraws) 196 

Exhibit  J. — History  of  the  Catawbas  (from  Handbook  of  American  Indians) .  215 

Exhibit  K 218 

History  of  the  Cheraws  (from  Handbook  of  American  Indians) 218 

History  of  the  Cherokees  (from  Handbook  of  American  Indians) 220 

Exhibit  L. — Legislation  relative  to  Indians  of  Robeson  County 223 

Exhibit  M. — Correspondence  relative  to  the  investigation  of  the  condi- 
tion, tribal  rights,  etc.,  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson  County,  N.  C 233 

3 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page. 

Indians  cooking  fish 76 

Map  of  the  lost  colony 83 

Ogilby's  map  of  Carolina,  1671 89 

Lederer's  map  of  Carolina,  1671. '. 90 

Home's  map  of  Carolina,  1666 91 

Lawson's  map  of  the  Carolinas,  1709 100 

Map  of  the  Cherokee  country  (from  the  Nineteenth  Annual  Report  of  the 

Bureau  of  American  Ethnology) 134 

Map  showing  territory  held  by  the  Cherokees  and  their  neighbors  (from  the 

Nineteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology) 136 

Map  of  the  sites  of  the  Cheraws  and  Catawbas,  from  Greggs'  History  of  the  Old 

Cheraws 197 

Map  of  Cheraws  precinct  and  parts  adjacent  (from  Greggs'  History  of  the  Old 

Cheraws) ."^ 198 

4 


CKq-7o.oi 

LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 


Department  of  the  Interioe, 

Washington,  January  4,  1915. 
The  President  of  the  Senate. 

Sir:  Senate  resolution  410,  dated  June  30,  1914,  reads  as  follows: 

That  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  be,  and  he  hereby  is,  directed  to  cause  an  inves- 
tigation to  be  made  of  the  condition  and  tribal  rights  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson 
and  adjoining  counties  of  North  Carolina,  recently  declared  by  the  Legislature  of 
North  Carolina  to  be  Cherokees,  and  formerly  known  as  Croatans,  and  report  to 
Congress  what  tribal  rights,  if  any,  they  have  with  any  band  or  tribe;  whether  they 
are  entitled  to  or  have  received  any  lands,  or  whether  there  are  any  moneys  due 
them,  their  present  condition,  their  educational  facilities,  and  such  other  facts  as 
would  enable  Congress  to  determine  whether  the  Government  would  be  warranted 
in  making  suitable  provision  for  their  support  and  education. 

In  conformity  therewith,  I  have  caused  an  investigation  to  be 
made  by  Special  Indian  Agent  O.  M.  McPherson,  and  am  transmitting 
herewith  his  report  of  September  19,  1914.  This  report  is  quite  full, 
showing  a  careful  investigation  on  the  ground  as  well  as  extensive 
historical  research. 

It  is  believed  that  this  report  covers  the  matters  mentioned  in  the 
resolution,  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  information  afforded  thereby  will 
"enable  Congress  to  determine  whether  the  Government  wdl  be 
warranted  in  making  suitable  provision  for  their  support  and 
education." 

Respectfully, 

Franklin  K.  Lane. 


REPORT  ON  CONDITION  AND  TRIBAL  RIGHTS  OF  THE 
INDIANS  OF  ROBESON  AND  ADJOINING  COUNTIES 
OF  NORTH  CAROLINA. 


By  Special  Indian  Agent  O.  M.  McPheeson. 


Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Washington,  September  19,  1914- 
Hon.  Cato  Sells, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs. 
My  Dear  Mr.  Sells:  On  June  30,  1914,  the  Senate  passed  a  reso- 
lution (S.  Res.  410)  authorizing  and  directing  the  Secretar^r  of  the 
Interior  to  cause  an  investigation  to  be  made  of  the  condition  and 
tribal  rights  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson  and  adjoining  counties  in 
North  Carohna.     Said  resolution  reads  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  be,  and  he  hereby  is,  directed  to  cause 
an  investigation  to  be  made  of  the  condition  and  tribal  rights  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson 
and  adjoining  counties  of  North  Carolina,  recently  declared  by  the  legislature  of  North 
Carolina  to  be  Cherokees,  and  formerly  known  as  Croatana,  and  report  to  Congress 
what  tribal  rights,  if  any,  thej'  have  with  any  band  or  tribe;  whether  they  are  entitled 
to  or  have  received  any  lands,  or  whether  there  are  any  moneys  due  them,  their  present 
condition,  their  educational  facilities,  and  such  other  facts  as  would  enable  Congress 
to  determine  whether  the  Government  would  be  warranted  in  making  suitable  pro- 
vision for  their  support  and  education. 

(See  Exhibit  A.) 

On  July  23, 1914,  you  instructed  me  to  proceed  to  Robeson  County, 
N.  C,  as  earl^r  as  convenient,  and  make  the  investigation  called  for 
by  the  resolution.  In  obedience  to  your  instructions  I  immediately 
proceeded  to  Lumberton,  in  said  State,  and  the  results  of  my  investi- 
gation will  appear  under  appropriate  headings  in  this  report.  (See 
Exhibit  Al.) 

historical. 

The  Croatan  Indians  (designated  "Cherokee  Indians  of  Robeson 
County"  by  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  rati- 
fied Mar,  11,  1913)  comprise  a  body  of  mixed-blood  people  residing 
chiefly  in  Robeson  County,  N.  C.  A  few  of  the  same  class  of  people 
reside  in  Bladen,  Columbus,  Cumberland,  Scotland,  and  Hoke  Coun- 
ties, N.  C,  and  in  Sumter,  Marlboro,  and  Dillon  Counties,  S.  C.  It 
is  also  said  that  a  similar  people,  called  "Redbones,"  reside  in  these 
counties  in  South  Carohna,  but  I  think  it  probable  that  they  belong 
to  the  same  class  of  people  as  those  residing  in  Robeson  County, 
N.  C.     In  the  Eleventh  Census,  of  1890,  under  the  title  "North  Caro- 


8  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Una  Indians,"  they  are  described  as  "generally  white,  showing  the 
Indian  mostly  in  actions  and  habits."     It  is  stated  that — 

They  were  enumerated  by  the  regular  census  enumerator  in  part  as  whites;  that 
they  are  clannish  and  hold  with  considerable  pride  to  the  tradition  that  they  are  the 
descendants  of  the  Croatans  of  the  Raleigh  period  of  North  Carolina  and  Virginia. 

(See  Exhibit  A2.) 

They  are  described  in  the  Hand  Book  of  American  Indians,  Bureau 
of  American  Ethnology,  Bulletin  No.  30,  as  a  people  evidently  of 
mixed  Indian  and  white  blood,  found  in  various  sections  in  the  east- 
ern part  of  North  Carolina,  but  chiefly  in  Robeson  County.  It  is 
also  stated  that  for  many  years  they  were  classed  with  the  free  negroes, 
but  steadfastly  refused  to  accept  such  classification  or  to  attend  the 
negro  schools  or  churches,  claiming  to  be  the  descendants  of  the 
early  native  tribes  and  white  settlers  who  had  intermarried  with 
them. 

A  bulletin  of  the  Thirteenth  Census  (census  of  1910),  "Indians  of 
North  Carolina,"  shows  their  numbers  to  be  as  follows: 

Bladen  County 36 

Columbus  County 12 

Cumberland  County 48 

Scotland  County 74 

Sampson  County 213 

Robeson  County 5, 895 

Total  in  North  Carolina 6, 278 

In  a  statement  furnished  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs,  House 
of  Representatives,  February  14,  1913,  in  the  hearing  on  Senate  bill 
3258,  it  is  said: 

According  to  the  census  of  1910,  the  number  of  Indians  in  Robeson  County  waa 
5,895.  There  are  also  about  1,500  to  2,000  in  adjoining  counties  in  North  and  South 
Carolina,  making  a  settlement  in  all  of  about  8,000  persons. 

Apparently,  the  Indian  Office  had  no  knowledge  of  the  existence 
of  the  Croatan  Indians  until  the  latter  part  of  1888.  About  that 
time  54  of  these  Indians,  describing  themselves  as  "a  part  of  the 
Croatan  Indians  living  in  Robeson  County,"  and  claiming  to  be  "a 
remnant  of  White's  lost  colony,"  petitioned  Congress  "for  such  aid 
as  you  may  see  fit  to  extend  to  us."  This  petition  was  referred  to  the 
Indian  Office,  and  on  January  7,  1889,  a  copy  was  sent  to  the  Director 
of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  with  the  statement  that  there  was  no 
record  in  the  Indian  Ofiice  showing  any  such  Indians  or  any  such 
colony  as  that  referred  to,  and  requesting  to  be  furnished  with  such 
information  as  said  bureau  had  concerning  these  people.  On  Janu- 
ary 11,  1889,  the  Director  of  the  Ethnological  Bureau  replied: 

I  beg  leave  to  say  that  Croatan  was  in  1585  and  thereabouts  the  name  of  an  island 
and  Indian  village  just  north  of  Cape  Hatteras,  N.  C.  White's  colony  of  120  men 
and  women  was  landed  on  Roanoke  Island  just  to  the  north  in  1587,  and  in  1590  when 
White  returned  to  revisit  the  colony  he  found  no  trace  of  it  on  Roanoke  Island,  save 
the  name  "Croatoan"  carved  upon  a  tree,  which,  according  to  a  previous  understand- 
ing, was  interpreted  to  mean  that  the  colonists  had  left  Roanoke  Island  for  Croatan. 
No  actual  trace  of  the  missing  colonists  was  ever  found,  but  more  than  100  years 
afterwards  Lawson  obtained  traditional  information  from  the  Hatteras  Indians  which 
led  him  to  believe  that  the  colonists  had  been  incorporated  with  the  Indians.  It 
It  was  thought  that  traces  of  white  blood  could  be  discovered  among  the  Indians, 
some  among  them  having  grry  eyes.  It  is  probable  that  the  greater  number  of  the 
colonists  were  killed;  but  it  was  quite  in  keeping  with  Indian  usages  that  a  greater 
or  less  number,  especially  women  and  children,  should  have  been  made  captive  and 
subsequently  incorporated  into  the  tribe. 


INDIANS  OF   NOETH   CAEOLINA.  9 

(See  Exhibit  B2.) 

On  January  29,  1889,  the  Indian  Office  communicated  with  Mr. 
Hamilton  McMillan,  of  FayetteviUe,  N.  C,  concerning  these  Indians, 
with  the  result  that  on  July  17,  1890,  Mr.  McMillan  sent  the  office  a 
copy  of  his  booklet  relating  to  these  people,  entitled  "Sir  Walter 
Raleigh's  Lost  Colony."  Further  mention  will  be  made  of  Mr.  Mc- 
Millan's views  concerning  the  Robeson  County  Indians.  On  August 
11,  1890,  in  reply  to  a  letter  of  July  2  of  that  year,  the  Commissioner 
of  Indian  Affairs  wrote  Mr.  W.  L.  Moore,  of  Osborne,  N.  C. : 

It  appears  from  his  statement  that  this  band  is  recognized  by  the  State  of  North 
Carolina,  has  been  admitted  to  citizenship,  and  the  State  has  undertaken  the  work 
of  their  education. 

While  I  regret  exceedingly  that  the  provisions  made  by  the  State  of  North  Carolina 
eeem  to  be  entirely  inadequate,  I  find  it  quite  impracticable  to  render  any  assistance 
at  this  time.  The  Grovernment  is  responsible  for  the  education  of  something  like 
36,000  Indian  children  and  has  provisions  for  less  than  half  this  number.  So  long  as 
the  immediate  wards  of  the  Government  are  so  insufiiciently  provided  for,  I  do  not 
see  how  I  can  consistently  render  any  assistance  to  the  Croatans  or  any  other  civilized 
tribes. 

(See  Exhibit  B7.     See  Exhibit  C  for  the  McMillan  booklet.) 
Much  doubt  and  uncertainty  has  existed  as  to  the  source  of  the 
Indian  blood  of  this  people  and  as  to  whether  their  ancestors  com- 

{)rised  a  part  of  White's  lost  colony  (sometimes  spoken  of  as  "Raleigh's 
ost  colony").  Some  of  these  Indians  hold  to  a  tradition  that  they 
are  of  Cherokee  origin,  and  affect  to  beheve  that  the  action  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  in  designating  them  as  "Chero- 
kee Indians  of  Robeson  County"  in  some  way  confirms  this  tradition. 
I  find  that  the  question  of  the  source  of  then-  Indian  blood,  and 
whether  their  ancestors  were  a  part  of  Gov.  White's  lost  colony  are 
so  inextricably  bound  together  that  it  wiU  be  necessary  to  treat 
of  both  subjects  under  the  same  heading. 

white's  lost  colony. 

The  first  explorer  of  the  region  originally  known  as  Virginia,  com- 
prising the  territory  afterwards  known  as  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
and  South  Carohna  (omitting  for  the  present  some  explorations  along 
the  coast  made  by  Lane),  was  John  Lederer,  a  learned  German,  who 
resided  in  the  Virginia  colony  during  the  administration  of  Sir  William 
Berkeley.  It  appears  that  he  made  "  three  several  marches"  through 
the  country  referred  to  between  March,  1669,  and  September,  1670. 
Copious  extracts  from  Lederer' s  notes  of  travel  are  printed  in  Vol- 
ume II  of  Hawks's  History  of  North  Carolina,  together  with  lengthy 
explanatory  notes.  A  map  of  Lederer's  explorations  accompanies 
Talbot's  translation  of  the  notes  (which  were  written  in  Latin),  by 
the  aid  of  which  Dr.  Hiwks  endeavored  to  trace  the  explorer's  wan- 
derings in  North  Carohna.  A  facsimile  of  the  map  is  printed  in  the 
history;  also  a  facsimile  of  the  map  of  Carolina  drawn  by  Ogilby  in 
1671.  Copies  of  these  maps  and  the  text  relatmg  to  Lederer's  notes 
as  found  m  Dr.  Hawks's  History,  Vol.  II,  accompany  this  report. 
(See  Exhibit  D.) 

Dr.  Hawks  found  himself  unable  to  reconcile  some  of  Lederer's 
narrative  with  later  well-known  geographical  and  historical  facts. 
This  was  probably  due  to  inaccuracies  in  courses  and  distances  trav- 
eled by  the  explorer,  to  errors  in  names  and  locations,  and  to  stiU 


10  INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

greater  inaccuracies  in  the  or^al  map.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to 
attempt  to  reconcile  or  explam  these  inaccuracies,  but  merely  to 
call  attention  to  some  important  facts  which  seem  to  have  some  rela- 
tion to  the  early  history  of  the  so-called  Croatan  Indians. 

There  is  a  long-standing  tradition  among  these  Indians  that  their 
ancestors  were  white  people,  a  part  of  Gov.  White's  lost  colony,  who 
amalgamated  with  the  coast  Indians  and  afterwards  removed  to  the 
interior,  where  they  now  reside;  and  it  is  my  purpose  to  inquire  into 
the  historical  data  which  support  or  contradict  this  tradition.  It  is 
a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  the  Indians  are  a  people  of 
"traditions,"  being  entirely  destitute  of  written  records.  Indeed,  I 
would  regard  the  tradition  of  these  people  that  their  ancestors  com- 
prised a  part  of  the  "lost  colony"  as  of  little  value  were  it  not  sup- 
ported by  what  is  regarded  as  authentic  historical  data.  Mr.  James 
Mooney,  in  the  Hand  Book  of  Indians,  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology, 
Bulletin  No.  30,  expresses  doubt  that  these  people  originated  from 
White's  lost  colony.     He  says: 

The  theory  of  descent  from  the  lost  colony  may  be  regarded  as  baseless,  but  the 
name  itself  serves  as  a  convenient  label  for  a  people  who  combine  in  themselves  the 
blood  of  the  wasted  native  tribes,  the  early  colonists  or  forest  rovers,  the  runaway 
slaves  or  other  negroes,  and  probably  also  of  stray  seamen  of  the  Latin  races  from 
coasting  vessels  in  the  West  Indian  or  Brazilian  trade. 

Mr.  Samuel  A'Court  Ashe,  a  most  creditable  historian,  also  seems 
to  doubt  the  origin  of  the  Croatan  Indians  from  White's  lost  colony. 
He  says  in  part: 

Because  names  borne  by  some  of  the  colonists  have  been  found  among  a  mixed 
race  in  Robeson  County,  now  called  Croatans,  an  inference  has  been  drawn  that  there 
was  some  connection  between  them.  It  is  highly  improbable  that  English  names 
would  have  been  preserved  among  a  tribe  of  savages  beyond  the  second  generation, 
there  being  no  communication  except  with  other  savages.  If  English  names  had 
existed  among  the  Hatteras  Indians  in  Lawson's  time,  he  ]3robably  would  have  men- 
tioned it  as  additional  evidence  corroborating  his  suggestion  deduced  from  some  of 
them  having  gray  eyes  and  from  their  valuing  themselves  on  their  afhnity  to  the 
English.  It  is  also  to  be  observed  that  nowhere  among  the  Indians  were  found  houses 
or  tilled  lands  or  other  evidences  of  improvement  on  the  customs  and  manners  of 
the  aborigines.  When  this  mixed  race  was  first  observed  by  the  early  settlers  of  the 
upper  Cape  Fear,  about  1735,  it  is  said  that  they  spoke  English,  cultivated  land, 
lived  in  substantial  houses,  and  otherwise  practiced  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  being  in 
these  respects  different  from  any  Indian  tribe. 

(See  Exhibit  CCC.) 

Except  for  the  doubt  expressed  by  these  writers,  the  universal 
opinion  of  those  who  have  written  concerning  the  early  history  of 
the  Carolinas,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  supports  the 
tradition  of  the  Indians. 

Gov.  White's  notes  of  his  voyage  to  Virginia  (North  Carohna)  in 
search  of  the  colony  he  planted  on  Roanoke  Island  in  1587  are 
printed  at  length  in  Hawks's  History  of  North  Carohna,  extracts 
from  which  are  reprinted  in  McMillan's  pamphlet  heretofore  referred 
to.  According  to  a  secret  understanding  which  White  had  with  the 
colonists  before  he  returned  to  England,  if  they  departed  from 
Roanoke  Island  before  his  return  (and  there  had  been  talk  that  they 
might  go  50  miles  into  the  interior)  they  were  to  carve  upon  the 
trees  or  posts  of  the  doors  "  the  name  of  the  place  where  they  should 
be  seated."  When  White  and  his  men  on  August  16,  1590,  landed 
on  the  north  point  of  the  island,  where  they  had  left  the  colony 
three  years  previously,  and  proceeded  up  the  sandy  bank,  they  saw 
upon   a   tree,   in   the   very  brow   thereof,   the  fair    roman    letters 


ITTDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  11 

"C.  R.  O.,"  which  they  "presently  knew  to  signify  the  place  where 
they  should  find  the  planters  seated."  It  was  also  understood  "  that 
if  they  should  happen  to  be  distressed  in  any  of  thoseplaces"  they 
should  carve  over  the  letters  or  name  a  cross;  but  White  and  his 
men  found  no  such  sign  of  distress.     The  narrative  continues: 

And  having  well  considered  of  this  we  passed  through  the  place  where  they  were 
left  in  sundry  houses,  but  we  found  the  houses  taken  down  and  the  place  very  strongly 
inclosed  with  a  high  palisade  of  great  trees  with  curtains  and  flankers,  very  fortlike, 
and  one  of  the  chief  trees  or  posts  at  the  right  side  of  the  entrance  had  the  bark  taken 
off  and  5  feet  from  the  ground,  in  fair  capital  letters,  was  graven  "ceoatoan," 
vdthout  any  cross  or  sign  of  distress. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  word  carved  upon  the  tree  was  "  Croa- 
toan"  and  not  "Croatan"  as  stated  by  some  of  the  historians. 
White's  narrative  continues: 

This  done,  we  entered  into  the  palisade,  where  we  found  many  bars  of  iron,  two 
pigs  of  lead,  four  iron  fowlers,  iron  locker,  shot,  and  such  like  heavy  things  thrown 
here  and  there,  almost  overgrown  with  grass  and  weeds.  But  although  it  grieved  me 
much  to  see  such  spoil  of  my  goods,  yet  on  the  other  side  I  greatly  joyed  that  I  had 
safely  found  a  certain  token  of  their  being  at  Croatoan,  which  is  the  place  where 
Manteo  was  bom,  and  the  savages  of  the  island  our  friends. 

Manteo,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  one  of  two  friendly  Indians 
who  had  been  carried  to  England  by  Sir  Richard  Grenville  and 
returned  to  Virginia  with  Gov.  White  on  the  occasion  of  his  first 
voyage,  in  1587.  On  August  13  of  that  year,  Manteo,  by  direction 
of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  was  baptized,  and  in  reward  for  his  services 
to  the  EngHsh  he  was  designated  "Lord  of  Roanoke  and  Dasa- 
monguepeuk." 

Returning  to  Lederer's  travels,  it  will  be  noted  that  on  the  map 
prepared  in  1666 — one  of  the  earliest  maps  of  the  Carolina  coast — 
Croatoan  is  represented  as  an  island  south  of  Cape  Hatteras.  This 
seems  to  accord  with  White's  narrative,  quoted  above.  On  the 
map  prepared  by  Ogilby,  1671,  on  the  order  of  the  lords  proprietors, 
and  on  the  map  ©f  "Carolina,  described  1666"  (facsimile  by  Schroe- 
ter),Croatan  is  marked  as  a  part  of  the  main  land,  directly  west  of 
Roanoke  Island.  Gov.  White's  narrative  indicates  that  the  colo- 
nists (or  "  planters,"  as  he  called  them)  originally  removed  to  Croatoan, 
an  island  south  of  Cape  Hatteras,  and  not  to  Croatan,  a  part  of  the 
mainland.     Mr.  McMillan  in  his  pamphlet  (p.  11)  says: 

It  is  evident  from  the  story  of  Gov.  White,  as  given  on  a  preceding  page,  that  the 
colonists  went  southward  along  the  coast  to  Croatoan  Island,  now  a  part  of  Carteret 
County,  in  North  Carolina,  and  distant  about  100  miles  in  a  direct  line  from  Albe- 
marle Soimd. 

The  Tuscarora  Indians  was  a  powerful  and  warUke  tribe,  occupy- 
ing the  central  eastern  part  of  North  Carohna.  They  had  frequent 
encounters  with  the  Cherokees  and  Catawbas  on  the  west  and  south- 
west, and  with  the  Cheraws  on  the  south,  but  stood  as  an  impassa- 
ble barrier  to  encroachments  on  their  territory  until  the  destructive 
war  of  1711-1713.  The  exact  location  of  the  Tuscaroras  can  not  be 
determined  from  Lederer's  notes  nor  from  Ogilby's  or  Lederer's  map, 
further  than  that  they  occupied  a  very  advantageous  position  in 
eastern  North  Carolina;  but  as  indicative  of  the  character  of  the 
people  at  this  time  (1670),  especially  the  principal  chief,  Lederer 
says: 

Not  thinking  fit  to  proceed  farther,  the  8th  and  20th  of  June  I  faced  about  and  looked 
homeward.    To   avoid    Wisacky  marsh    I  shaped  my  course  northeast;  and  after 


1.2  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

three  days'  travel  over  liilly  ways,  where  I  met  with  no  path  or  road,  I  fell  into  a 
barren,  sandy  desert,  where  I  suffered  miserably  for  want  of  water,  the  heat  of  sum- 
mer having  drunk  all  the  springs  dry  and  left  no  sign  of  any  but  the  gravelly  chan- 
nels in  which  they  run;  so  that  if  now  and  then  I  had  not  found  a  standing  pool, 
which  provident  nature  set  round  with  shady  oaks  to  defend  it  from  the  ardor  of  the 
sun,  my  Indian  companion,  horse,  and  self  had  certainly  perished  with  thirst.  In 
this  distress  we  traveled  till  the  12th  of  July,  and  then  found  the  head  of  a  river, 
which  afterwards  proved  Eruco,  in  which  we  received  not  only  the  comfort  of  a 
necessary  and  seasonable  refreshment,  but  likewise  the  hopes  of  coming  into  a  coun- 
try again  where  we  might  find  game  for  food  at  least,  if  not  discover  some  new  nation 
or  people.  Nor  did  our  hopes  fail  us,  for  after  we  had  crossed  the  river  twice  we 
were  led  by  it,  upon  the  14th  of  July,  to  the  town  of  Katearas,  a  place  of  great 
Indian  trade  and  commerce  and  chief  seat  of  the  haughty  emperor  of  the  Taskiroras, 
called  Kaskusara,  vulgarly  called  Kaskous.  His  grim  majesty,  upon  my  first  ap- 
pearance, demanded  my  gun  and  shot,  which  I  wilHngly  parted  with,  to  ransom 
myself  out  of  his  clutches;  for  he  was  the  most  proud,  imperious  barbarian  that  I  met 
with  in  all  my  marches.  The  people  here  at  this  time  seemed  prepared  for  some 
extraordinary  solemnity,  for  the  men  and  the  women  of  better  sort  had  decked  them- 
selves very  fine  with  pieces  of  briglit  copper  in  their  hair  and  ears  and  about  their 
arms  and  necks,  which  upon  festival  occasions  they  use  as  an  extraordinary  bravery; 
by  which  it  would  seem  this  country  is  not  without  rich  mines  of  copper,  but  I  dm-st 
not  stay  to  inform  myself  in  it,  being  jealous  of  some  sudden  mischief  toward  me 
from  Kaskous,  his  nature  being  bloody  and  provoked  upon  any  slight  occasion. 

Therefore,  leaving  Katearas,  I  traveled  through  the  woods  until  the  16th,  upon 
which  I  came  to  Kawitziokan,  an  Indian  town  upon  a  branch  of  Rorenoke  River, 
which  here  I  passed  over,  continuing  my  journey  to  Menchaerink;  and  on  the  17th, 
departing  from  thence,  I  lay  all  night  in  the  woods,  and  the  next  niorning,  betimes 
going  by  Natoway,  I  reached  that  evening  Apamatuck,  in  Virginia,  where  I  was 
not  a  little  overjoyed  to  see  Christian  faces  again. 

(For  the  full  text  of  Lederer's  notes  and  Dr.  Ilawks's  comments, 
see  Exhibit  D.) 

John  Lawson,  surveyor  general  of  North  Carolina,  was  the  next 
explorer  who  left  a  permanent  record  of  his  travels  among  the  Indian 
tribes  of  the  Carohnas.  He  commenced  his  journey  at  Charlestown, 
December  28,  1700,  passed  up  the  Santee  and  Wateree  Kivers,  and 
thence  across  the  foothills  to  the  headwaters  of  the  tributaries  of 
the  Neuse  and  thence  down  these  rivers  to  the  coast.  For  many 
days  he  thought  that  he  had  crossed  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Cape 
Fear  River,  but  after  encountering  Enoe-Will,  an  Indian  who  acted 
as  his  guide  and  interpreter  during  the  latter  part  of  his  journey, 
discovered  his  mistake.  He  apparently  passed  through  the  country 
of  the  Santees,  Waterus,  Cheraws,  and  Catawbas,  and  on  the  return 
trip  through  the  country  of  the  Catawbas,  Tuscaroras,  and  Corees. 
It  is  ]oossible  that  he  may  have  entered  the  country  of  the  Cherokees 
on  the  Hiwassee  River,  though  this  is  by  no  means  certain.  I  was 
fortunate  in  obtaining  an  original  copy  of  the  Lawson  history, 
printed  in  London  in  1718,  from  which  I  have  copied  liberally  by 
photostat  process.  As  in  the  case  of  the  Lederer  notes,  it  is  not  my 
purpose  to  review  the  Lawson  history  in  extenso,  but  merely  to  call 
attention  to  such  parts  as  relate  to  the  lost  colony  and  to  the  Indians 
with  whom  it  is  supposed  they  amalgamated.  The  history  is  ad- 
dressed to  the  "Lords-Proprietors  of  the  Province  of  Carolina  in 
America,"  and  the  author  says  in  the  preface: 

Having  spent  most  of  my  Time,  during  my  eight  Years  Abode  in  Carolina,  in  travel- 
ling; I  not  only  survey'd  the  Sea-Coast  and  those  Parts  which  are  already  inhabited 
by  the  Christians,  but  likewise  view'd  a  spatious  Tract  of  land,  lying  betwixt  the 
Inhabitants  and  the  Ledges  of  Mountains,  from  whence  our  noblest  Rivers  have  their 
Rise,  running  towards  the  Ocean,  where  they  water  as  pleasant  a  country  as  any  in 
Europe,  the  Discovery  of  which  being  never  yet  made  publick,  I  have,  in  the  following 
Sheets,  given  yom  a  faithful  Account  thereof,  wherein  I  have  laid  down  everything 


INDIANS   OF   NOKTH   CAKOLINA.  13 

with  Impartiality,  and  Truth,  which  is  indeed,  the  Duty  of  every  Author,  and 
preferable  to  a  smooth  Stile,  accompany'd  with  Falsities  and  Hyperboles. 

It  seems  evident  that  Lawson  and  his  party  were  unable  to  con- 
verse with  the  Indians  of  the  several  tribes  through  which  they 
passed,  except  in  the  sign  language,  until  they  encountered  Enoe-Will, 
one  of  the  headmen  of  the  Coree  tribe,  a  small  tribe  originally  residing 
on  the  coast  near  the  mouth  of  the  Neuse  River,  and  which  was  prob- 
ably alUed  with  the  Hatteras,  Pamlico,  and  other  coast  tribes. 
About  the  point  of  leaving  the  country  of  the  Keyauwees,  most  of 
the  party  abandoned  Lawson,  with  a  view  of  proceeding  to  Virginia, 
leaving  him  and  one  companion  to  pursue  their  journey  alone  through 
North  Carolina.     On  page  53  Lawson  says: 

This  morning  most  of  our  Company  having  some  Inclination  to  go  straight  away 
for  Virginia,  when  they  left  this  Place;  I  and  one  more  took  our  leaves  of  them,  resolv- 
ing (with  God's  Leave)  to  see  North  Carolina,  one  of  the  Indians  setting  us  in  our 
way.  The  rest  being  indifferent  which  way  they  went,  desired  us,  by  all  means, 
to  leave  a  Letter  for  them,  at  the  Achonechy-Town.  The  Indian  that  put  us  in  our 
Path,  had  been  a  Prisoner  amongst  the  Sinnagers;  but  had  out-run  them,  although 
they  had  cut  his  Toes,  and  half  his  Feet  away,  which  is  a  Practice  common  amongst 
them.  They  first  raise  the  skin,  then  cut  away  half  the  Feet,  and  so  wrap  the  Skin 
over  the  Stumps,  and  make  a  present  Cure  of  the  Wounds.  This  commonly  disables 
them  from  making  their  Escape,  they  being  not  so  good  Travellers  as  before,  and  the 
Impression  of  their  Half-Feet  making  it  easy  to  trace  them.  However,  this  Fellow 
was  got  clear  of  them,  but  had  little  Heart  to  go  far  from  home,  and  carry 'd  always  a 
case  of  Pistols  in  his  Girdle,  besides  a  Cutlass,  and  a  Fuzee. 

Notwithstanding  they  were  "put  in  their  path"  by  the  Indian 
referred  to,  Lawson  and  his  companion  apparently  traveled  a  hundred 
miles  or  more  without  a  guide.  During  this  time  they  had  nothing 
to  subsist  on  but  parched  corn,  and  probably  passed  over  the  neutral 
territory  between  the  Catawbas  and  the  Tuscaroras.  Near  the 
"town"  of  Achonechy,  probably  120  miles  from  the  country  of  the 
Keyauwees,  they  encountered  "30  horses  coming  on  the  road  with 
four  or  five  men  on  other  jades,  driving  them."  These  proved  to  be 
a  smaU  company  of  Englishmen  from  Virginia,  who  were  going  into 
the  Carolinas  to  trade  with  the  Indians,  The  leading  man  was  named 
Massey,  and  he  advised  Lawson  by  all  means  "to  strike  down  the 
country  for  Roanoke,  and  not  think  of  Virginia  because  of  the  Sin- 
negars."  He  also  persuaded  them  to  call  upon  Enoe-WiU  as  they 
went  to  Adshusheer,  "for  that  he  would  conduct  them  safe  among 
the  English,"  giving  him  the  character  of  a  very  faithful  Indian. 
About  3  o'clock  they  reached  the  town,  and  within  two  hours  Enoe- 
Will  came  into  the  "King's"  house,  where  they  were  staying.  The 
next  morning  they  set  out  with  Enoe-Will  "towards  Adshusheer, 
leaving  the  Virginia  path  and  striking  more  to  the  eastward  for 
Roanoke."  Lawson  describes  the  journey  to  Adshusheer,  where 
Enoe-WiU  resided  "as  a  sad  stony  way"  which  made  him  quite 
lame.  Here  the  Indians  brought  them  two  "cocks"  (chickens), 
which  to  my  mind  is  conclusive  evidence  that  these  Indians  had 
previously  come  in  contact  with  the  whites,  as  Indians  in  their  native 
state,  as  a  rule,  are  destitute  of  domestic  animals,  except  the  horse 
and  dog.     Lawson  says  of  Enoe-WiU: 

Our  guide  and  landlord,  Enoe-Will,  was  of  the  best  and  most  agreeable  temper 
that  ever  I  met  with  in  an  Indian,  being  always  ready  to  serve  the  English,  not  out 
of  gain,  but  real  affection. 

The  following  day  much  rain  fell  and  they  stayed  at  the  Indian  town. 
The  next  morning  they  set  out  early  and  traveled  about  10  miles, 


14  INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

when  they  were  stopped  by  the  high  water  in  the  river.  Lawson 
thought  that  they  were  on  some  tributary  of  the  Cape  Fear  River, 
but  on  inquiry  oi  Enoe-WUl  he  learned  that  it  was  Enoe  River  and 
emptied  into  a  place  called  "Enoe  Bay,"  near  his  country,  which  he 
left  when  he  was  a  boy;  by  which  Lawson  perceived  that  Will  was 
one  of  the  Corees  and  that  the  river  they  were  waiting  to  cross  was  a 
branch  of  the  Neuse  River,  This  locates  the  Corees  when  Will  was 
a  boy  -probably  50  or  more  years  previously — on  the  coast  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Neuse  River,  and  for  the  first  time  the  traveler  learned 
that  he  was  much  farther  north  than  he  had  supposed. 
On  page  58,  the  author  says: 

The  next  day,  early,  came  two  Tuskerora  Indiana  to  the  other  side  of  the  river, 
but  could  not  get  over.  They  talked  much  to  us,  but  we  understood  them  not.  In 
the  afternoon,  Will  came  with  the  mare  and  had  some  discourse  with  them.  They 
told  him  the  English,  to  whom  he  was  going,  were  very  wicked  people;  and  that  they 
threatened  the  Indians  for  hunting  on  their  plantations. 

This  incident  reveals  the  fact  that  the  travelers  were  within  or 
near  the  Tuscarora  country,  and  that  already  friction  existed  between 
the  Enghsh  and  the  Tuscaroras.     The  author  continues: 

Will  had  a  slave,  a  Sissipahan  Indian  by  nation,  who  killed  us  several  turkeys  and 
other  game,  on  which  we  feasted. 

Showing  the  existence  of  Indian  slavery  among  the  Corees  (or 
Schoccores,  as  Lawson  sometimes  called  them)  at  this  time. 

A  short  distance  after  crossing  the  branch  of  the  Neuse  River 
referred  to,  they  halted  for  the  night.  The  traveler  carried  an  illus- 
trated Bible  with  him  and  as  they  lay  in  camp  at  this  place  Enoe-WUl 
asked  to  see  the  book.     Lawson  describes  what  took  place  as  follows: 

My  Guide  Will  desiring  to  see  the  Book  that  I  had  about  me,  I  lent  it  him;  and  aa 
he  soon  found  the  Picture  of  King  David,  he  asked  me  several  Questions  concerning 
the  Book,  and  Picture,  which  I  resolved  him,  and  invited  him  to  become  a  Christian. 
He  made  me  a  very  sharp  Reply,  assuring  me.  That  he  loved  the  English  extraordi- 
nary well,  and  did  believe  their  Ways  to  be  very  good  for  those  that  had  already 
practiced  them,  and  had  been  brought  up  therein.  But  as  for  himself,  he  was  too  mucid 
in  Years  to  think  of  a  Change,  esteeming  it  not  proper  for  Old  People  to  admit  of 
such  an  Alteration.  However,  he  told  me.  If  I  would  take  his  son  Jack,  who  waa 
then  about  14  Years  of  Age,  and  teach  him  to  talk  in  that  Book,  and  make  Paper 
speak,  which  they  call  our  Way  of  Writing,  he  would  wholly  resign  him  to  my  Tuition; 
telling  me,  he  waa  of  Opinion,  I  was  very  well  affected  to  the  Indians. 

This  conversation  between  the  traveler  and  his  guide  reveals 
several  important  thmgs:  First,  that  Enoe-WUl  must  have  been 
between  60  and  70  years  old  at  this  time,  and  that  he  was  familiar 
with  the  fact  that  the  Enghsh  could  "talk  in  a  book"  and  "make 
paper  speak,"  Couple  this  with  the  fact  that  the  guide  had  an 
English  name,  "Will,"  which  he  probably  assumed  at  the  age  of 
20  or  21,  and  the  information  previously  given  by  him  that  he  lived 
on  Enoe  Bay  when  he  was  a  boy,  leads  quite  certainly  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  Corees  had  come  in  contact  with  at  least  some 
portion  of  the  lost  colony.  It  must  be  remembered  that  when  Will 
was  a  boy  there  were  no  English  settlements  on  the  east  coast  of 
North  Carolina  other  than  White's  lost  colony. 

A  few  days  after  the  conversation  between  the  traveler  and  his 
guide,  quoted  above,  Lawson  reached  the  plantation  of  his  friend, 
Mr.  Richard  Smith,  on  "Pamptigouch  River,"  "where  being  well 
received  by  the  inhabitants,  and  pleased  with  the  goodness  of  the 
country,  we  all  resolved  to  continue." 


INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  15 

In  the  second  part  of  his  history,  which  the  author  designated 
"A  description  of  North  CaroHna,"  he  speaks  of  the  early  settlement 
of  the  country  and  of  the  lost  colony  as  follows: 

The  first  Discovery  and  Settlement  of  this  Country  was  by  the  Procurement  of  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh,  in  Conjunction  with  some  publick-spirited  Gentlemen  of  that  Age, 
under  the  protection  of  Queen  Elizabeth;  for  which  Reason  it  was  then  named  Vir- 
ginia, being  begun  on  that  Part  called  Ronoak  Island,  where  the  Ruins  of  a  Fort  are 
to  be  seen  at  this  day,  as  well  as  some  old  English  Coins  which  have  been  lately  found; 
and  a  Brass-Gun,  a  Powder-Hom,  and  one  small  Quarter  deck-Gun,  made  of  Iron 
Staves,  and  hooped  with  the  same  metal;  which  Method  of  making  Guns  might  very 
probably  be  made  use  of  in  those  Days,  for  the  Convenience  of  Infant-Colonies. 

A  farther  Confirmation  of  this  we  have  from  the  Hatteras  Indians,  who  either  then 
lived  on  Ronoak-Island,  or  much  frequented  it.  These  tell  us,  that  several  of  their 
ancestors  were  white  People,  and  could  talk  in  a  Book,  as  we  do ;  the  Truth  of  which 
is  confirmed  by  gray  Eyes  being  found  frequently  amongst  these  Indians,  and  no  others. 
They  value  themselves  extremely  for  their  Affinity  to  the  English,  and  are  ready  to 
do  them  all  friendly  Offices.  It  is  probable,  that  this  Settlement  miscarried  for  want 
of  timely  Supplies  from  England;  or  thro'  the  Treachery  of  the  Natives,  for  we  may 
reasonably  suppose  that  the  English  were  forced  to  cohabit  with  them,  for  Relief  and 
Conversation;  and  that  in  process  of  Time,  they  conformed  themselves  to  the  Manners 
of  their  Indian  Relations.     And  thus  we  see  how  apt  Humane  Nature  is  to  degenerate. 

I  cannot  forbear  inserting  here,  a  pleasant  Story  that  passes  for  an  uncontested 
Truth  amongst  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Place;  which  is,  that  the  Ship  which  brought 
the  first  Colonies,  does  often  appear  amongst  them,  under  Sail,  in  a  gallant  Posture, 
which  they  call  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  Ship;  And  the  truth  of  this  has  been  affirmed 
to  me,  by  Men  of  the  best  Credit  in  the  Country. 

A  second  Settlement  of  this  Country  was  made  about  fifty  Years  ago,  in  that  part 
we  now  call  Albemarl  County,  and  chiefly  in  Chuwon  Precinct,  by  several  substantial 
Planters,  from  Virginia,  and  other  Plantations. 

Lawson's  history  is  regarded  as  the  standard  authority  for  the 
period  it  covers;  I  find  it  extensively  quoted  from  by  all  subsequent 
historians ;  and  if  his  statements  concerning  the  amalgamation  of  the 
lost  colony  with  the  Hatteras  Indians  is  not  true,  the  "mystery"  of 
what  became  of  White's  colony  can  never  be  solved.  But  there  are 
many  facts  and  circumstances  which  confirm  Lawson's  record. 

"When  White  returned  to  Roanoke  Island  in  1590,  in  accordance 
with  the  secret  understanding  between  himself  and  the  colonists,  he 
found  the  word  "Croatoan"  graven  upon  a  tree  comprising  one  of  the 
door  posts  of  the  palisade;  and  above  it  he  found  no  cross  or  sign  of 
distress.  This,  to  my  mind,  indicated  that  the  colonists  were  not 
captured  in  warfare  by  the  Indians,  but  went  with  them  voluntarily 
to  find  a  better  location  than  Roanoke  Island.  If  they  went  with 
the  Hatteras  Indians  voluntarily,  amalgamation  with  them  was 
inevitable. 

I  understand  that  when  the  act  of  the  North  Carolina  Legislature 
designating  them  Croatans,  was  pubhcly  read  to  the  Indians,  one 
aged  Indian,  a  very  inteUigent  man,  remarked  that  he  had  always 
heard  his  ancestors  say  that  they  were  Hatteras  Indians.  Manteo 
was  friendly  to  the  English,  and  would  undoubtedly  do  everything 
in  his  power  to  protect  them.  On  page  234  of  his  history  Lawson  de- 
scribes the  Hatteras  Indians  as  consisting  of  one  town  residing  on  the 
Sand  Banks,  with  16  fighting  men.  The  Hatteras  Indians  are  de- 
scribed in  the  Hand  Book  of  American  Indians,  Bureau  of  Ethnology 
(p.  537)  as  follows: 

Hatteras. — An  Algonquian  tribe  living  in  1701  on  the  sand  banks  about  C.  Hat- 
teras, N.  C,  E.  of  Pamlico  Sound,  and  frequenting  Roanoke  Id.  Their  single  village. 
Sandbanks,  had  then  only  about  80  inhabitants.  They  showed  traces  of  white  blood 
and  claimed  that  some  of  their  ancestors  were  white.    They  may  have  been  identical 


16  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

with  the  Croatan  Indians  (q.  v.),  with  whom  Raleigh's  colonists  at  Roanoke  Id.  are 
supposed  to  have  taken  refuge. 

The  presence  of  gray  eyes  and  fair  skin  among  these  people  in  Law- 
son's  time  can  not  be  explained  on  any  other  hypothesis  than  that  of 
amalgamation  with  the  white  race;  and  when  Lawson  wrote  (1709) 
there  was  a  tradition  among  the  Hatteras  Indians  that  their  ancestors 
were  white  people  "  and  could  talk  in  a  book" ;  and  that  "  they  valued 
themselves  extremely  for  their  affinity  to  the  Enghsh  and  were  ready 
to  do  them  all  friendly  offices."  I  have  already  referred  to  the  fact 
that  Enoe-Will,  a  Coree  Indian,  who  had  been  raised  on  the  coast, 
and  who  was  probably  nearly  70  years  of  age  when  he  acted  as  Law- 
son's  guide,  knew  that  the  English  could  "talk  in  a  book"  and  as  he 
further  expressed  it,  "could  make  paper  talk,"  indicating  that  he  was 
familiar  with  the  customs  of  the  Enghsh.  The  Corees  are  described 
m  the  "Hand  Book,"  Bulletin  No.  30  (p.  349),  as  follows: 

Coree. — A  tribe,  possibly  Algonquian,  formerly  occupying  the  peninsula  S.  of 
Neuse  R.,  in  Carteret  and  Craven  Cos.,  N.  C.  They  had  been  greatly  reduced  in  a 
war  with  another  tribe  before  1696,  and  were  descrilaed  by  Archdale  as  having  been 
a  bloody  and  barbarous  people.  Lawson  refers  to  them  as  Coranine  Indians,  but  in 
another  place  calls  them  Cannamox  and  gives  them  two  villages  in  1701 — Coranine 
and  Raruta — with  about  125  souls.  They  engaged  in  the  Tuscarora  war  of  1711,  and 
in  1715  the  remnants  of  the  Coree  and  Machapunga  were  assigned  a  tract  on  Matta- 
muskeet  Lake,  Hyde  Co.,  N.  C,  where  they  lived  in  one  viallge  probably  xmtil 
they  became  extinct. 

There  is  an  abiding  tradition  among  these  people  at  the  present  time 
that  their  ancestors  were  the  lost  colony,  amalgamated  with  some 
tribe  of  Indians.  This  tradition  is  supported  by  their  looks,  their 
complexion,  color  of  skin,  hair  and  eyes,  by  their  manners,  customs 
and  habits,  and  by  the  fact  that  while  they  are,  in  part,  of  undoubted 
Indian  origin,  they  have  no  Indian  names  and  no  Indian  language — • 
not  even  a  single  word — and  know  nothing  of  Indian  customs  and 
habits.     Speaking  of  the  language  of  this  people,  Mr.  McMiUan  says: 

The  language  spoken  is  almost  pure  Anglo  Saxon,  a  fact  which  we  think  affords 
corroborative  evidence  of  their  relation  to  the  lost  colony  of  White.  Mon  (Saxon) 
is  used  for  man,  father  is  pronounced  "  fayther,"  and  a  tradition  is  usually  begun  as 
follows : 

"Mon,  my  fayther  told  me  that  his  faytlier  told  him, "  etc.  "Mension, "  is  used 
for  measurement,  "aks"  for  ask,  "hit"  for  it,  "hosen"  for  hose,  "lovend"  for  loving, 
"housen"  for  houses.  They  Seem  to  have  but  two  sounds  for  the  letter  "a, "  one  like 
short  "o.  "  Many  of  the  words  in  common  use  among  them  have  long  been  obsolete 
in  English-speakmg  countries. 

Col.  Fred  A.  Olds,  a  newspaper  correspondent  of  Raleigh,  says  of 
their  language: 

The  language  spoken  by  the  Croatans  is  a  very  pure  but  quaint  old  Anglo-Saxon, 
and  there  are  in  daily  use  some  75  words  which  have  come  down  from  the  great  daya 
of  Raleigh  and  his  mighty  mistress,  Queen  Elizabeth.  These  old  Saxon  words  arrest 
attention  instantly.  For  man  they  say  "mon,"  pronounce  father  "feyther, "  use 
"mension"  for  measurement,  "ax"  for  ask,  "hosen"  for  hose,  "lovened"  for  loving, 
"wit"  for  knowledge,  "housen"  for  houses;  and  many  other  words  in  daily  use  by 
them  have  for  years  been  entirely  obsolete  in  English-speaking  countries. 

Just  when  the  colonists  and  the  Indians  with  whom  they  amalga- 
mated removed  to  the  interior  is  not  certainly  known,  but  it  is 
beheved  to  have  been  as  early  as  1650.  At  the  coming  of  the  first 
white  settlers  to  what  is  now  known  as  Robeson  County,  there  was 
found  located  on  the  banks  of  the  Lumber  River  a  large  tribe  of  In- 


INDIANS  OP   NORTH   CAROLINA.  17 

dians,  speaking  the  English  language,  tilling  the  soil,  owning  slaves, 
and  practicing  many  of  the  arts  of  civilized  life.     McMillan  says: 

They  occupied  the  country  as  far  west  as  the  Pee  Dee,  but  their  principal  seat  was 
on  the  Lumber,  extending  along  that  river  for  20  miles.  They  held  their  lands  in 
common  and  land  titles  only  became  known  on  the  approach  of  white  men.  The  first 
grant  of  land  to  any  of  this  tribe,  of  which  there  is  written  evidence  in  existence,  was 
made  by  King  George  II  in  1732,  to  Henry  Berry  and  James  Lowrie,  two  leading  men 
of  the  tribe,  and  was  located  on  the  Lowrie  Swamp,  east  of  Lumber  River  in  present 
county  of  Robeson  in  North  Carolina.  A  subsequent  grant  was  made  to  James  Lowrie 
in  1738.  According  to  tradition  there  were  deeds  of  land  of  older  date,  described  aa 
"White"  deeds  and  "Smith"  deeds,  but  no  trace  of  their  existence  can  be  found  at 
this  date. 

And  what  is  of  greater  significance,  a  very  large  number  of  the 
names  appearing  among  the  lost  colony  are  to  be  found  among  the 
Croatan  Indians,  a  fact  inexpUcable  upon  any  other  hypothesis  than 
that  the  lost  colony  amalgamated  with  the  Indians. 

These  names,  common  to  both,  are  printed  in  itahcs  in  the  McMillan 
booklet.  (Exhibit  C.)  The  present  investigation  discloses  that  the 
Indian  names,  Indian  language,  and  Indian  customs  and  habits 
perished,  while  the  English  names,  English  language,  and  English 
customs  and  habits  prevailed.     Mr.  McMillan  adds: 

The  writer  has  been  much  interested  in  investigating  the  tradition  prevalent  among 
the  Croatans  and  expresses  his  fijm  conviction  that  they  are  descended  from  the 
friendly  tribe  found  on  our  east  coast  in  1587,  and  also  descended  from  the  lost  colonists 
of  Roanoke,  who  amalgamated  with  this  tribe. 

From  the  foregoing  I  have  no  hesitancy  in  expressing  the  belief 
that  the  Indians  originally  settled  in  Robeson  and  adjoining  counties 
in  North  Carolina  were  an  amalgamation  of  the  Hatteras  Indians 
with  Gov.  White's  lost  colony;  the  present  Indians  are  their  descend- 
ants with  a  further  amalgamation  with  the  early  Scotch  and  Scotch- 
Irish  settlers,  such  amalgamation  continuing  down  to  the  present 
time,  together  with  a  small  degree  of  amalgamation  with  other  races. 

I  do  not  find  that  the  Hatteras  Indians  or  the  so-called  Croatan 
Indians  ever  had  any  treaty  relations  with  the  United  States,  or  that 
they  have  any  tribal  rights  with  any  tribe  or  band  of  Indians;  neither 
do  I  find  that  they  have  received  any  lands  or  that  there  are  any 
moneys  due  them. 

CLAIM   OF   CHEROKEE   ORIGIN. 

Since  writing  the  foregoing,  the  office  has  received  and  referred  to 
me  a  communication,  dated  September  7,  1914,  from  Mr.  A.  W. 
McLean,  of  Lumberton,  N.  C,  the  local  representative  of  these 
Indians,  concerning  theh  claim  to  Cherokee  origin.  Mr.  McLean 
refers  to  a  statement  presented  by  him  on  February  14,  1913,  to  the 
House  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs,  respecting  the  origin  of  these 
Indians,  and  asks  that  his  communication  be  treated  as  supplemental 
to  said  statement.  In  the  statement  referred  to  Mr.  McLean  said  in 
part: 

We  are  of  the  opinion  that  they  were  originally  a  part  of  the  great  Cherokee  Tribe  of 
Indians,  which  inhabited  the  western  and  central  portions  of  Carolina  before  the 
advance  of  the  white  man. 

Indeed,  Mr.  McMillan,  in  his  account  before  referred  to,  takes  the  position  that  they 
are  of  Cherokee  descent,  though  we  confess  that  we  can  not  reconcile  this  contention 
with  his  main  contention  that  they  are  descendants  of  Gov.  White's  or  Sir  Walter 
Kaleigh's  lost  colony. 

75321°— S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 2 


18  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Long  before  historians  began  to  study  the  origin  of  these  people  they  claimed  to  be 
of  Cherokee  descent.  In  fact,  they  have  always  claimed  that  they  were  originally 
a  part  of  the  Cherokee  Tribe  and  that  they  gave  up  their  tribal  relation  after  they 
had  participated  with  the  white  man  in  the  war  against  the  Tuscaroras.  These  Indi- 
ans had  great  roads  or  trails  connecting  their  settlements  with  the  principal  seat  of 
the  Cherokee  Tribe  in  the  Allegheny  Mountains.  There  is  a  well-authenticated 
tradition  among  them,  handed  down  through  several  generations,  that  this  small 
remnant  after  participating  with  the  whites  in  the  war  against  the  Tuscaroras  took  up 
many  of  the  habits  and  customs  of  the  white  man,  and  therefore  refused  to  remove 
West  with  the  great  Cherokee  Tribe.  It  is  also  certain  that  in  this  they  were  influ- 
enced by  the  admixture  of  Anglo-Saxon  blood,  which  had  taken  place  to  some  extent 
even  in  that  remote  period. 

In  the  communication  Mr.  McLean  says: 

My  opinion  is,  from  a  very  exhaustive  examination  made  before  and  after  the 
hearing  above  mentioned,  that  these  Indians  are  not  only  descendants  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh's  lost  colony,  as  contended  by  Mr.  Hamilton  McMillan  in  his  statement,  a 
copy  of  which  Mr.  McPherson  has  in  his  possession,  but  that  they  are  also  mixed  with 
the  Cherokee  Indians.  In  the  first  place,  these  Indians  have  contended  from  time 
immemorial  that  they  were  of  Cherokee  descent,  and  they  further  have  had  a  tradi- 
tion among  them  that  their  ancestors,  or  some  of  them,  came  from  "Roanoke  and 
Virginia. "  Roanoke  and  Virginia,  of  course,  originally  comprised  all  of  eastern 
North  Carolina,  including  Roanoke  Island,  the  settlement  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's 
lost  colony. 

(For  the  full  text  of  Mr.  McLean's  statement  and  communication 
see  Exhibit  F.) 

The  history  and  traditions  of  the  Cherokee  Indians  of  North  Caro- 
lina, in  my  judgment,  do  not  confirm  the  claim  of  the  Robeson 
County  Indians  to  Cherokee  origin.  The  Cherokces  were  the  moun- 
taineers of  the  South,  originally  holding  the  entire  Appalachian 
region  from  the  headwaters  of  the  Kanawha  on  the  north  to  middle 
Georgia  on  the  south.  Their  principal  towns  were  upon  the  head- 
waters of  the  Savannah,  Hiwassee,  and  Tuckasegee  Rivers,  and  along 
the  entire  length  of  the  Little  Tennessee  to  its  junction  with  the 
main  stream.  As  far  as  I  can  learn,  there  is  no  tradition  that  they 
ever  occupied  the  coast  country  in  North  Carolina  or  elsewhere. 
Indeed,  interposed  between  the  Cherokees  and  the  coast  were  three 
or  four  powerful  tribes  with  which  they  were  in  perpetual  warfare. 
On  the  east  and  southeast  the  Tuscaroras  and  Catawbas  were  their 
inveterate  enemies,  with  hardly  even  a  momentary  truce  within 
historic  times,  and  evidence  is  not  wanting  that  the  Sara  or  Cheraw 
were  originally  their  deadly  enemies.  Had  inclination  led  them 
toward  the  coast  in  the  time  of  the  earliest  colonization  they  would 
probably  have  been  driven  back  by  other  hostile  tribes.  In  the 
Nineteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  (p.  21), 
speaking  of  the  early  location  of  the  Cherokees,  it  is  stated: 

From  a  careful  sifting  of  the  evidence,  Haywood  concludes  that  the  authors  of  the 
most  ancient  remains  in  Tennessee  had  spread  over  that  region  from  the  south  and 
southwest  at  a  very  early  period,  but  that  the  latter  occupants,  the  Cherokee,  had 
entered  it  from  the  north  and  northeast  in  comparatively  recent  times,  overrunning 
and  exterminating  the  aborigines.  He  declares  that  the  historical  fact  seems  to  be 
established  that  the  Cherokee  entered  the  country  from  Virginia,  making  temporary 
settlements  upon  New  River  and  the  upper  Holston  until,  under  the  continued 
hostile  pressure  from  the  north,  they  were  again  forced  to  remove  farther  to  the  south, 
fixing  themselves  upon  Hie  Little  Tennessee,  in  what  afterwards  became  known  aa 
the  middle  towns.  By  a  leading  mixed  blood  of  the  tribe  he  was  informed  that  they 
had  made  their  first  settlements  within  their  modem  home  territory  upon  Nolichucky 
River,  and  that,  having  lived  there  for  a  long  period,  they  could  give  no  definite 
account  of  an  earlier  location.  Echota,  their  capital  and  peace  town,  "claimed  to  be 
the  eldest  brother  in  the  nation,"  and  the  claim  was  generally  acknowledged.  In 
confirmation  of  the  staten.ent  as  to  an  early  occupancy  of  the  upper  Holston  region, 


INDIANS  OF    NOETH   CAROLINA.  19 

it  may  be  noted  that  "Watauga  Old  Fields,"  now  Elizabeth  ton,  were  so  called  from 
the  fact  that  when  the  first  white  settlement  within  the  present  State  of  Tennessee  was 
begun  there,  so  early  as  1769,  the  bottom  lands  were  found  to  contain  graves  and  other 
numerous  ancient  remains  of  a  former  Indian  town  which  tradition  ascribed  to  the 
Cherokee,  whose  nearest  settlements  were  then  many  miles  to  the  soutiiward. 

In  this  historical  statement  there  is  no  tradition  that  the  Cherokees 
had  ever  occupied  any  portion  of  the  coast  country. 

The  strongest  and  most  persistent  tradition  of  the  Robeson  County 
Indians  is  that  their  ancestors  were  a  part  of  the  "lost  colony";  and 
it  seems  most  probable  that  the  lost  colony,  if  amalgamated  with  any 
Indian  tribe  (which  seems  historically  certain),  amalgamated  with  a 
coast  tribe  and  not  with  a  "mountain  tribe"  residing  300  miles  to 
the  westward,  between  whom  and  the  coast  settlements  three  or 
four  hostile  tribes  were  interposed.  In  this  connection  it  should  not 
be  overlooked  that  at  the  time  of  the  earliest  attempts  at  coloniza- 
tion, a  xd  at  the  time  of  the  great  Tuscarora  War,  the  Coree  and  Hat- 
teras  Indians,  who  resided  on  the  coast,  were  firm  allies  of  the  Tus- 
caroras;  in  fact,  they  could  not  have  maintained  their  position  on 
the  coast  as  against  the  tribes  farther  west  and  southwest  except 
through  a  firm  alliance  with  the  stronger  Tuscaroras. 

The  first  definite  history  of  the  Cherokees  begins  with  the  year 
1540,  at  which  date  they  were  firmly  established  where  they  have 
always  afterwards  been  known  to  reside,  namely,  in  the  mountain 
section  of  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia.  The  earliest  Spanish  adven- 
turers failed  to  penetrate  so  far  into  the  interior,  and  the  earliest 
entry  into  their  country  was  made  by  the  intrepid  De  Soto,  who 
advanced  into  the  interior  in  May,  1540,  by  way  of  the  Savannah 
River,  in  his  fruitless  quest  for  gold.  There  is  no  record  of  a  second 
attempt  to  penetrate  the  Cherokee  country  for  26  years.  In  1561 
the  Spaniards  took  formal  possession  of  the  Bay  of  Santa  Elena, 
now  St.  Helena,  near  Port  Royal,  on  the  coast  of  South  Carolina. 
The  next  year  the  French  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  at  settlement 
at  the  same  place,  and  in  1566  Menendez  made  the  Spanish  occupancy 
sure  by  establishing  there  a  fort  which  he  called  San  Felipe.  In 
November  of  that  year  Capt.  Juan  Pardo  was  sent  with  a  party 
from  the  fort  to  explore  the  interior  and  probably  penetrated  into 
the  Cherokee  country,  but  on  account  of  the  deep  snow  in  the  moun- 
tains he  did  not  think  it  advisable  to  go  farther,  and  so  returned. 
The  following  summer  Capt.  Pardo  left  Fort  Santa  Elena  with  a 
small  detachment  of  troops  and  penetrated  the  Cherokee  country, 
but  the  trip  was  fruitless  of  important  results,  and  he  returned, 
having  discovered  nothing  more  valuable  than  some  mica  mines. 

It  was  at  about  this  time  that  the  Catawbas,  residing  east  of  the 
Cherokees,  were  at  the  height  of  their  power  and  influence,  and  for 
nearly  a  hundred  years  they  were  engaged  in  petty  warfare  with  the 
northern  Iroquoian  tribes,  particularly  with  the  Cherokees.  During 
this  period  the  Catawbas  stood  as  a  barrier  between  the  Cherokees 
and  the  coast. 

Not  until  1654  did  the  English  come  in  contact  with  the  Cherokees, 
called  in  the  records  of  that  period  Rechahecrians,  probably  a  corrup- 
tion of  Rickahockans,  apparently  the  name  by  which  they  were  then 
known  to  the  Powhatan  Tribe  in  Virginia.  In  this  year  the  Virginia 
colony,  which  had  recently  concluded  an  exterminating  war  with 
the  Powhatans,  was  alarmed  at  the  news  of  the  approach  of  a  large 
body  of  Rechahecrian  Indians  who  had  invaded  the  country  and 


20  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

established  themselves  at  the  falls  of  the  James  River.  On  page  30 
of  the  Nineteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  it  is 
stated: 

In  1670  the  German  traveler,  John  Lederer,  went  from  the  falls  of  James  River  to 
the  Catawba  country  in  South  Carolina,  following  for  most  of  the  distance  the  path 
used  by  the  Virginia  traders,  who  already  had  regular  dealings  with  the  southern 
tribes,  including  probably  the  Cherokee.  He  speaks  in  several  places  of  the  Ricka- 
hockan,  which  seems  to  be  a  more  correct  form  than  Rechahecrian,  and  his  narrative 
and  the  accompanying  map  put  them  in  the  mountains  of  North  Carolina,  back  of  the 
Catawba  and  the  Sara  and  southward  from  the  head  of  Roanoke  River.  They  were 
apparently  on  hostile  terms  with  the  tribes  to  the  eastward,  and  while  the  traveler 
was  stopping  at  an  Indian  village  on  Dan  River,  about  the  present  Clarksville,  Va.,  a 
delegation  of  Rickahockan,  which  had  come  on  tribal  business,  was  barbarously  mur- 
dered at  a  dance  prepared  on  the  night  of  their  arrival  by  their  treacherous  hosts.  On 
reaching  the  Catawba  country  he  heard  of  white  men  to  the  southward,  and  inci- 
dentally mentions  that  the  neighboring  mountains  were  called  tho  Suala  Mountains  by 
the  Spaniards.  In  the  next  year,  1671,  a  party  from  Virginia,  under  Thomas  Batts, 
explored  the  northern  branch  of  Roanoke  River  and  crossed  ©ver  the  Blue  Ridge  to 
the  headwaters  of  New  River,  where  they  found  trace  of  occupancy,  but  no  Indians. 
By  this  time  all  the  tribes  of  this  section,  east  of  the  mountains,  were  in  possession  of 
firearms. 

This  reveals  the  fact  that  the  Cherokees  in  the  earUer  part  of  their 
known  history  were  on  hostile  terms  with  the  tribes  to  the  eastward, 
which,  as  before  stated,  included  the  powerful  and  warhke  tribe  of 
the  Tuscaroras.  The  Catawbas  were  in  immediate  contact  with  the 
Cherokees  on  the  south  and  east,  but  the  Tuscaroras  also  stood  as 
an  impassable  barrier  between  them  and  the  coast.  To  the  south 
of  the  Tuscoraras  were  the  Sara  or  Cheraws,  who  in  the  earhest 
historical  periods  were  also  hostile  to  the  Cherokees. 

On  page  38  of  the  ethnological  report  above  referred  to  it  is  stated: 

Throughout  the  eighteenth  century  the  Cherokees  were  engaged  in  chronic  warfare 
with  their  Indian  neighbors.  As  these  quarrels  concerned  the  whites  but  little, 
however  momentous  they  may  have  been  to  the  principals,  we  have  but  few  details. 
The  war  with  the  Tuscarora  continued  until  the  outbreak  of  the  latter  tribe  against 
Carolina  in  1711  gave  opportunity  to  the  Cherokee  to  cooperate  in  striking  the  blow 
which  drove  the  Tuscarora  from  their  ancient  homes  to  seek  refuge  in  the  north. 
The  Cherokee  then  turned  their  attention  to  the  Shawano  on  the  Cumberland,  and 
with  the  aid  of  the  Chickasaw  finally  expelled  them  from  that  region  about  the  year 
1715.  Inroads  upon  the  Catawba  were  probably  kept  up  until  the  latter  had  become 
so  far  reduced  by  war  and  disease  as  to  be  mere  dependent  pensioners  upon  the  whites. 
The  former  friendship  with  the  Chickasaw  was  at  last  broken  through  the  overbearing 
conduct  of  the  Cherokee,  and  a  war  followed  of  which  we  find  incidental  notice  in 
1757,  and  which  terminated  in  a  decisive  victory  for  the  Chickasaw  about  1768.  The 
bitter  war  with  the  Iroquois  of  the  far  north  continued,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of 
the  colonial  governments,  until  a  formal  treaty  of  peace  was  brought  about  by  the 
efforts  of  Sir  William  Johnson  (12)  in  the  same  year. 

(For  the  full  text  of  the  history  of  the  Cherokees  as  given  in  said 
report,  see  Exhibit  G.) 

Until  after  the  exterminating  war  with  the  Tuscaroras  in  1711- 
1713,  it  seems  quite  impossible  that  the  Cherokees  could  have  gotten 
to  the  coast  of  the  Carolinas;  but  this  was  124  years  after  the  planting 
of  the  EngMsh  colony  on  Roanoke  Island  by  Gov.  White. 

As  mentioned  by  Mr.  McLean,  it  is  quite  probable  that  a  small 
number  of  the  Cherokees  were  allied  with  the  whites,  the  Cher  aw, 
and  Catawba  Indians  against  the  Tuscaroras,  for  assertion  to  this 
effect  is  made  by  WilUamson,  Gregg  and  Mooney;  but  in  a  report 
of  his  Indian  allies,  made  by  Col.  Barnwell  himself,  at  Fort  Narhantes 
(the  stronghold  of  the  Tuscaroras)  on  February  4,   1712,  he  does 


INDIANS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA.  21 

not  mention  the  Cherokees.     I  quote  from  the  Handbook  of  Ameri- 
can Indians,  page  845: 

In  a  letter  dated  at  Narhantes  Fort,  February  4,  1712,  Col.  Barnwell  gives  a  list 
of  the  various  tribes  of  southern  Indians  who  composeu  hia  motley  army^  In  his 
own  spelling  these  were:  The  Amasses,  Hog  Logees,  Apalatchees,  Corsaboy,  Watterees, 
Sagarees,  Catawbas,  Suterees,  Waxams,  Congarees,  Sattees,  Pedees,  Weneawa,  Cape 
Feare,  Hoopengs,  "Wareperees,  Saraws,  and  Saxapah'aws.  Fort  Narhantes,  according 
to  Barnwell,  was  the  largest  and  most  warlike  town  of  the  Tuscarora. 

When  the  Tuscaroras  were  first  visited  by  Lawson  they  possessed 
the  country  lying  between  the  coast  of  North  Carohna  and  the  foot- 
hills, having  16  towns  and  about  1,200  warriors.  (For  their  history, 
their  alhance  with  the  small  coast  tribes,  their  struggles  with  other 
tribes,  the  Tuscarora  War,  etc.,  see  Exhibit  H.) 

After  the  close  of  the  Tuscarora  War  it  is  possible  that  a  few  of 
the  Cherokee  Indians  taking  part  therein  remained  in  what  is  now 
Robeson  County  and  amalgamated  with  the  Indians  then  residing 
there;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  when  the  fu-st  Scotch  settlers 
located  in  that  section  of  country  they  found  seated  on  the  Lumber 
River  and  its  tributaries  a  tribe  of  Indians  speaking  English,  tiUing 
the  soil  like  white  men,  owning  slaves,  and  practicing  many  of  the 
arts  of  civihzed  life.  This  could  not  have  been  the  Cherokees,  for 
there  is  no  tradition  among  them  that  they  ever  spoke  the  EngHsh 
language;  but  it  does  constitute  one  of  the  strongest  hnks  in  the 
chain  of  evidence  that  this  ''Indian  tribe"  were  the  descendants 
of  the  ''lost  colony"  which  by  force  of  necessity  had  become  amalga- 
mated with  one  of  the  coast  tribes.  While  I  say  it  is  possible  that 
some  of  the  Cherokees  who  took  part  in  the  Tuscarora  War  may 
have  remained  in  the  east  and  amalgamated  with  the  coast  tribes, 
including  the  so-called  Croatans  in  Robeson  County,  it  is  much 
more  probable  that  they  induced  individual  members  of  these  tribes 
to  migrate  west  vdth  them,  for  it  is  a  matter  of  history  that  the 
remnants  of  some  of  these  small  coast  tribes  did  migrate  west  and 
became  absorbed  in  the  larger  tribes,  and  in  this  way  lost  their 
identity.  To  my  mind  it  is  much  more  probable  that  some  of  the 
Croatans  went  west  and  became  absorbed  by  the  Cherokees  than 
that  a  few  Cherokees  remained  east  and  became  absorbed  by  the 
Croatans.  It  is  not  unhkely  that  in  this  way  the  ancestors  of  the 
John  Lowrie  who  signed  the  Cherokee  treaty  of  1806  may  have 
been  connected  with  the  Croatans,  but  emigrated  west  after  the 
Tuscarora  War.  But  the  circumstance  of  the  similarity  of  names 
between  the  signer  of  the  treaty  of  1806  and  one  of  the  leading 
famihes  of  the  Croatans  would  carry  httle  weight  as  estabhshing 
identity  between  the  two,  for  among  the  Cherokees  in  1806  were  a 
number  of  English  and  Scotch  names,  and  a  few  of  French  origin; 
and  the  name  Lowrie  or  Lowrey  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  a  very  com- 
mon Enghsh  name,  and  might  appear  in  several  of  the  Indian  tribes. 
The  mere  "tradition"  that  the  two  famihes  were  related,  in  the 
absence  of  record  evidence  to  this  effect,  could  have  but  httle  weight 
for,  as  explained  in  the  earher  part  of  this  report,  the  Indians  are 
a  people  of  traditions  and  in  the  absence  of  record  evidence  are 
content  to  accept  tradition  as  fact. 

The  tradition  obtained  by  Gregg  from  Wilham  H.  Thomas  that  the 
Cherokees  originally  occupied  the  territoiy  assigned  to  the  Catawbas, 
and  that  there  was  a  sanguinary  battle  between  them,  lasting  from 


22  INDIANS   OF    NOETH    CAEOLINA. 

morning  until  night,  resulting  in  frightful  losses  on  both  sides,  as  a 
result  of  which  an  agreement  was  entered  into  between  them  by  the 
terms  of  which  the  Catawbas  were  to  occupy  the  country  formerly 
occupied  by  the  Cherokees  and  the  Cherokees  were  to  remove  farther 
west  into  the  mountains,  does  not  seem  to  be  substantiated  by  the 
reports  of  the  Ethnological  Bureau.  For  the  first  chapter  in  Gregg's 
History  of  the  Old  Cheraws,  in  which  he  relates  this  tradition  and 
gives  the  origin  of  the  names  of  certain  rivers  in  South  Carolina,  see 
Exhibit  I.  The  map  included  in  the  narrative  (p.  197)  taken  from 
map  in  Volume  I,  Transactions  of  American  Ethnological  Society,  no 
doubt  shows  correctly  the  relative  locations  of  the  several  tribes  occu- 
pying the  territory  of  the  Carolinas  when  the  earliest  explorations 
were  made  by  the  whites.  Reference  is  particularly  made  to  this 
map  for  such  locations. 

The  Catawbas  were  the  most  important  ot  the  Eastern  Siouan 
tribes,  and  doubtless  had  a  number  of  conflicts  with  the  Cherokees, 
but  the  Cherokees  were  essentially  mountaineers,  and  held  dominion 
over  the  Appalachian  Chain  from  the  headwaters  of  the  Kanawha 
to  central  Georgia.  The  Cherokees  were  of  Iroquoian  stock  while 
the  Catawbas  were  of  Siouan  stock,  and  racial  differences  may  have 
had  something  to  do  with  their  petty  confhcts.  The  principal  vil- 
lages of  the  Catawbas  were  formerly  on  the  west  bank  of  the  river,  in 
what  is  now  York  County,  S.  C,  opposite  the  mouth  of  Sugar  Creek. 
I  quote  from  the  Hand  Book  of  American  Indians,  pages  213  and  214: 

Further  investigations  by  Hale,  Gatschet,  Mooney,  and  Dorsey  proved  that  several 
other  tribes  of  the  same  region  were  also  of  Siouan  stock,  while  the  linguistic  forms  and 
traditional  evidence  all  point  to  this  E.  region  as  the  original  home  of  the  Siouan 
tribes.  The  alleged  tradition  which  brings  the  Catawba  from  the  N.,  as  refugees  from 
the  French  and  their  Indian  allies  about  the  year  1660  does  not  agree  in  any  of  its  main 
points  with  the  known  facts  of  history,  and  if  genuine  at  all,  refers  rather  to  some  local 
incident  than  to  a  tribal  movement.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Catawba  were  in  a 
chronic  state  of  warfare  with  the  northern  tribes,  whose  raiding  parties  they  sometimes 
followed,  even  across  the  Ohio. 

The  first  notice  of  the  Catawba  seems  to  be  that  of  Vandera  in  1579,  who  calls  them 
Issa  in  his  narrative  of  Pardo's  expedition.  Nearly  a  century  later,  in  1670,  they  are 
mentioned  as  Ushery  by  Lederer,  who  claims  to  have  visited  them,  but  this  is  doubtful. 

Lawson,  who  passed  through  their  territory  in  1701,  speaks  of  them  as  a  "powerful 
nation"  and  states  that  their  villages  were  very  thick.  He  calls  the  two  divisions, 
which  were  living  a  short  distance  apart,  by  different  names,  one  the  Kadapau  and  the 
other  the  Esaw,  unaware  of  the  fact  that  the  two  were  synonyms.  From  all  accounts 
they  were  formerly  the  most  populous  and  most  important  tribe  in  the  Carolinas, 
excepting  the  Cherokee. 

(For  the  fuU  text  of  the  history  of  the  Catawbas  as  given  in  the 
Hand  Book,  see  Exhibit  J.) 

Referring  to  the  origin  of  certain  names,  as  mentioned  by  Gregg, 
it  is  stated  in  the  Nineteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Eth- 
nology that  the  word  "Cherokee"  has  no  meaning  in  the  Cherokee 
language,  and  seems  to  be  of  foreign  origin.  As  used  among  them- 
selves the  form  is  Tsa-lagi  or  Tsa-ragi.  It  first  appears  as  Chalaque 
in  the  Portuguese  narrative  of  De  Soto's  expedition,  published  origin- 
ally in  1557.  There  is  evidence  that  it  is  taken  from  the  Choctaw 
word  Choluk  or  Chiluk,  signifying  a  pit  or  cave,  derived  from  the 
Mobilian  trade  language,  a  corrupted  Choctaw  jargon  formerly  used 
as  a  medium  of  communication  among  all  the  tribes  of  the  Gulf 
States.  As  given  by  Gatschet,  the  Catawba  name  for  the  Cherokees 
was  Manteran,  meaning  ''coming  out  of  the  ground,"  which  is  nearly 


INDIANS   OP    NORTH   CAEOLINA.  23 

equivalent  to  the  meaning  contained  in  the  Choctaw  word.     The 
report  adds: 

Adair's  attempt  to  connect  the  name  Cherokee  with  their  word  for  fire,  atsila,  is  an 
error,  founded  upon  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  language. 

(See  Exhibit  G,  pp.  133  to  179.) 

The  word  "Santee"  (the  name  of  an  eastern  Siouan  tribe)  is  from 
the  Sioux  or  Dakota  word  "insanyati,"  meaning  Knife  Lake. 
•  The  word  "Wateree"  (also  the  name  of  an  eastern  Siouan  tribe)  is 
probably  from  the  Catawba  word  "wateran,"  meaning  to  float  on  the 
water, 

Congaree  is  the  name  of  a  small  eastern  Siouan  Tribe  and  the  word 
is  probably  of  Siouan  origin;  and  Pedee  is  hkewise  the  name  of  a 
small  Siouan  tribe  and  the  word  is  thought  to  be  of  Siouan  origin. 
While  the  word  "Lumbee"  is  not  found  in  the  Hand  Book  (the  Lum- 
ber River  was  anciently  called  the  Lumbee)  it  is  probably  of  the 
same  origin.  The  "Lumbee"  River  is  a  branch  of  the  Pedee  and  the 
similarity  of  the  names  would  suggest  the  same  origin.  All  these 
small  Siouan  tribes  were  originally  parts  of  or  confederated  with  the 
Cheraws,  and  about  1739,  with  the  Cheraws,  became  incorporated 
with  the  Catawbas.  For  a  complete  history  of  aU  these  small  tribes, 
see  Hand  Book  of  American  Indians. 

The  Cheraws  are  of  Siouan  stock,  and  originally  ranged  from  south- 
em  Virginia  to  the  Cape  Fear  River  in  South  Carohna,  their  principal 
seat  being  near  the  town  of  Cheraw,  S.  C,  which  takes  its  name  from 
them.  In  numbers  they  probably  stood  next  to  the  Tuscaroras,  but 
are  much  less  prominent  m  history  because  of  their  almost  complete 
destruction  by  the  time  the  white  settlements  reached  them.  They 
were  first  visited  by  De  Soto  in  1540  and  later  by  Lederer  and  Lawson. 
They  were  undoubtedly  known  to  the  Cherokees  in  very  early  times  for 
they  ranged  over  a  part  of  the  territory  originally  claimed  by  the 
Cherokees,  but  I  find  no  authentic  history  that  they  were  ever  a  part 
of  the  Cherokees-  or  even  alhed  with  them.  It  is  much  more  probable 
th^t  they  had  numerous  conflicts  with  the  Cherokees  in  early  times  as 
they  ranged  over  their  territory  and  were  continually  harassed  by  the 
Iroquoian  tribes.  The  Cherokees  are  of  Iroquoian  stock,  while 
ethnologists  claim  that  the  Cheraws  were  of  Siouan  stock,  and  on 
account  of  this  racial  difference  and  difference  in  language,  there  is 
no  reasonable  probability  that  an  alhance  ever  existed  between  them. 
The  Cheraws  were  continually  harassed  by  the  Iroquoian  tribes,  and 
about  1710  were  compelled  to  remove  farther  southeast  and  joined 
the  Keyauwee,  a  small  Siouan  tribe.  Being  still  subject  to  attacks 
by  the  Iroquois,  between  1726  and  1739,  they  became  incorporated 
with  the  Catawbas.  The  last  historical  notice  of  them  was  in  1768, 
when  their  remnant,  reduced  by  war  and  disease,  were  still  hving  with 
the  Catawbas.  The  final  absorption  of  the  Cheraws  by  the  Catawbas 
seems  to  refute  the  claim  that  the  Cheraws  were  a  branch  of  the 
Cherokee  Tribe.  It  is  not  improbable,  however,  that  there  was  some 
degree  of  amalgamation  between  the  Indians  residing  on  the  Lumber 
River  and  the  Cheraws,  who  were  their  nearest  neighbors. 

(For  a  fuU  history  of  the  Cheraws  and  Cherokees,  as  given  in  the 
Hand  Book  of  American  Indians,  see  Exhibit  K.) 


24 


INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 


THEIR    PRESENT    CONDITION. 

It  is  not  altogether  easy  to  describe  the  exact  condition  of  these 
Indians.  They  are  essentially  a  farming  people,  living  almost 
exclusively  in  the  country,  and  in  many  respects  their  condition  is 
identical  with  that  of  their  white  neighbors  among  whom  they  live. 
A  much  less  proportion  of  the  heads  of  families,  however,  are  land- 
owners than  among  the  whites,  which  means  a  much  less  degree  of 
prosperity.  It  is  conservatively  estimated  that  not  more  than  one- 
quarter  of  the  heads  of  families  are  landowners,  the  holdings  fre- 
quently amounting  to  only  4  or  5  acres;  it  follows  that  the  great 
majority  of  them  are  renters.  But  in  the  communities  where  their 
land  holdings  are  equal  to  that  of  the  whites  they  give  evidences  of 
equal  prosperity,  and  as  I  went  thi'ough  such  settlements,  from  farm 
to  farm,  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  tell  from  outward  appearance 
whether  I  was  passmg  the  farm  of  an  Indian  or  that  of  a  white  man. 
One  of  these  Indians  is  the  owner  of  500  acres  of  land;  two  or  three 
others  own  about  300  acres  each,  and  lesser  amounts  are  owned  by  a 
considerable  number.  These  men  would  be  classed  as  prosperous 
farmers  in  any  community.  But  it  must  be  understood  that  most  of 
the  land  in  Robeson  County  is  very  level  and  a  considerable  propor- 
tion is  included  in  swamps  and  lowlands.  The  tillable  land  of  the 
county,  however,  would  oe  classed  as  fertile  bottom  land,  readily 
susceptible  of  raising  large  crops  of  cotton,  tobacco,  and  corn. 

Among  the  small  landowners  and  renters  a  lesser  degree  of  pros- 
perity prevails,  and  among  very  many  families  there  is  much  poverty 
and  wretchedness.  Many  of  the  very  old  people  who  are  unable  to 
care  for  themselves  are  extremely  needy  and  should  be  sent  to  the 
Home  for  the  Aged  and  Infirm  of  Robeson  County.  It  may  be  said 
of  the  entire  body  of  Indians  that  they  speak  only  the  Enghsh  lan- 
guage; that  they  are  good  farmers  and  cultivate  their  lands  equally 
as  well  as  the  whites;  that  they  are  entirely  self-supporting  and 
self-rehant;  that  many  of  them  live  in  substantial  houses;  and  that 
all  of  them  practice  the  arts  and  habits  of  civilized  life.  In  these 
respects  they  are  different  from  most  of  the  Indian  tribes. 

The  following  statement  of  property  owned  by  these  Indians  was 
furnished  me  by  the  State  auditor: 

Answering  yoUr  letter  of  July  24,  which  you  handed  me  this  date,  I  give  you  the 
following  information,  taken  from  the  records  of  this  department: 


EOBESON  COtTNTY. 

Number  of  Indian  polls 

Value  of  property  listed  for  taxation 

SCOTLAND  COUNTY 

Number  Indian  polls 

Value  of  property  listed  for  taxation 

HOKE  COTTNTY. 

Number  of  Indian  poUs 

Value  of  property  listed  for  taxation 


44 

$5,689 


28 
$4,463 


The  records  on  file  in  thii^ department  from  Cumberland,  Bladen,  and  Columbus 
Counties  do  not  show  any  Indian  polls. 


INDIANS   OF   NOETH   CAROLINA.  25 


EDUCATIONAL   FACILITIES. 


Prior  to  1835  the  adult  male  Croatans  exercised  the  right  of  fran- 
chise in  North  Carolina,  and  it  seemed  to  be  the  current  tradition 
that  at  least  a  few  of  the  children  attended  the  white  schools,  wherever 
schools  for  the  whites  had  been  estabhshed  in  Indian  settlements; 
but  for  the  most  part  they  were  compelled  to  attend  "subscription" 
schools  organized  and  conducted  by  themselves.  By  clause  3  of 
section  3  of  the  amendments  to  the  constitution  of  1835,  the  Croatans 
lost  the  right  of  franchise,  and  from  that  date  until  the  adoption  of 
the  constitution  of  1868  they  were  regarded  and  treated  as  "free 
persons  of  color" — which  practically  meant  free  negroes — and  during 
this  period  they  were  not  permitted  to  attend  the  schools  for  whites; 
there  were  practically  no  educational  facilities  open  to  the  Indians 
at  this  time.  There  were  doubtless  some  subscription  schools,  but 
they  must  have  been  of  the  poorest  sort. 

Between  1868  and  1885  efforts  wore  made  to  compel  the  Indians 
to  attend  the  negro  schools,  but  they  persistently  refused  to  do  this, 
preferring  to  grow  up  in  ignorance  rather  than  attend  the  colored 
schools.  It  would  be  more  accurate  to  say  that  parents  would  not 
permit  their  children  to  attend  the  negro  schools,  preferring  rather 
that  they  should  grow  up  in  total  ignorance.  The  children  raised 
to  manhood  and  womanhood  during  this  period  are  the  most  densely 
ignorant  of  any  of  these  people. 

Up  to  1885  these  people  had  been  without  name  or  designation, 
but  through  the  efforts  of  Hon.  Hamilton  McMillan,  by  an  act  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  of  February  lo,  1885,  they 
were  designated  "Croatan  Indians,"  and  by  the  same  act  they  were 
granted  separate  schools  for  their  children,  school  committees  of  their 
own  race  and  color,  and  were  allowed  to  select  teachers  of  their  own 
choice,  subject  to  the  same  rules  and  regulations  applicable  to  all 
teachers  under  the  general  school  laws.  By  section  2  of  the  act  the 
county  board  of  education  was  directed  to  see  that  the  act  was  car- 
ried into  effect,  and  to  proceed  to  establish  suitable  school  districts  as 
shall  be  necessary  for  their  convenience,  and  to  do  all  necessary 
things  to  carry  the  act  into  effect.  Under  this  act  the  number  of 
free  pubhc  schools  has  increased  to  such  an  extent  as  to  fairly  meet 
the  needs  of  the  Indians.  I  heard  no  complaint  on  account  of  their 
district  schools.  Their  teachers  are  selected  by  their  own  school 
committees,  and  as  a  rule  are  of  their  own  race.  Practically  all  their 
teachers  have  attended  their  normal  school. 

Mr.  J.  R.  Pool,  the  county  superintendent  of  school  for  Robeson 
County,  furnished  me  with  the  school  statistics  of  the  Indians  for  the 
school  years  1912-13  and  1913-14.  I  glean  the  following  facts  from 
his  statement: 

Scholastic  year  1912-13. 

Census  (6  to  21  years  of  age) 2,  643 

Enrollment  (6  to  21) 1,662 

Average  daily  attendance 970 

Number  of  schools 27 

Number  of  teachers  (male  21,  female  11) 32 

Number  of  districts 27 

Value  of  school  buildings $7, 900 

Average  length  of  term days. .  85.  7 

Average,  special-tax  districts do IIL  43 


26  INDIANS   OP    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Expended  for  repairs $500 

Teachers'  salaries $5,  475.  25 

Scholastic  year  1913-14- 

Census  (6  to  21  years  of  age) 2, 948 

Enrollment  (6  to  21) 1,854 

Average  daily  attendance 1, 164 

Number  of  schools 27 

Number  of  teachers _. 36 

For  repairs  and  new  buildings $1, 160 

Total  value  school  buildings $9, 060 

Average  length  of  term  (all  schools) days..  102.  66 

Average  in  special  tax  exhibits do 104 

Teachers'  salaries $6, 410.  25 

(See  Exhibit  M.) 

NORMAL    SCHOOL. 

The  act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina,  ratified  March 
7,  1887,  provided  for  a  normal  school  for  the  Indians  of  Robeson 
County.  Four  Indian  trustees  were  appointed  and  were  given  full 
power  to  select  three  additional  trustees,  to  rent  or  acquire  suitable 
buildings,  to  appoint  teachers,  and  to  do  all  necessary  things  to  inau- 
gurate a  normal  school.  The  sum  of  S500  was  appropriated  annually 
for  two  years  for  the  support  of  the  school.  The  school  was  at  first 
located  near  Pates  in  a  building  formerly  used  for  district  school 
purposes,  but  after  the  destruction  of  this  building  by  fire  it  was 
removed  to  the  town  of  Pembroke,  where  a  much  larger  building  was 
erected,  consisting  of  four  rooms. 

By  the  act  of  the  general  assembly  of  March  8,  1911,  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  normal  school  was  empowered  to  convey  by  deed  the 
title  to  all  the  property  of  said  school  to  the  State  board  of  education. 
Section  2  of  the  act  authorized  the  State  board  of  education  to 
appoint  seven  members  of  the  Indian  race  to  constitute  the  board 
of  trustees  for  the  school.  The  appropriation  for  the  school  has  been 
increased  from  time  to  tune,  the  present  appropriation  being  at  the 
rate  of  $2,750  per  annum.  I  have  no  statistics  as  to  the  enrollment 
and  attendance  at  the  school,  but  I  understand  that  it  has  always 
been  maintamed  to  the  exhaustion  of  the  appropriation,  and  that 
it  has  contributed  greatly  to  the  educational  advantages  of  these 
people  in  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  their  district  schools. 

LEGISLATION    BY   THE    STATE    OF   NORTH    CAROLINA. 

Prior  to  the  adoption  of  certain  amendments  to  the  constitution 
on  the  second  Monday  of  November,  1835,  the  Croatan  Indians  voted 
and  otherwise  enjoyed  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  elective 
franchise  for  State  officials;  but  clause  3  of  section  3  of  the  amend- 
ments adopted  on  said  date  provided  that  no  free  negro,  free  mulatto, 
or  free  person  of  mixed  blood,  descended  from  negro  ancestors  to  the 
fourth  generation,  inclusive  (though  one  ancestor  of  each  generation 
may  have  been  a  white  person)  shall  vote  for  members  of  the  senate 
or  house  of  commons.  (See  Exhibit  Ll.)  Under  this  clause  they 
were  subsequently  denied  the  right  of  franchise. 

Section  7,  chapter  68,  of  the  acts  of  the  general  assembly  of  1854, 
provides  that  all  marriages  since  the  8th  day  of  January,  1839,  and 
all  marriages  in  the  future  between  a  white  person  and  a  free  negro, 


INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA.  27 

or  free  person  of  color,  to  the  third  generation,  shall  be  void.  It  was 
held  that  the  term  "or  free  person  of  color"  applied  to  the  Croatans; 
but,  notwithstanding  this  prohibition,  I  understand  that  occasional 
marriages  between  the  Indians  and  white  persons  occurred.  I  was 
unable  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  any  such  marriages  had  been 
declared  void.     (See  Exhibit  L2.) 

An  amendment  to  the  constitution  of  North  Carolina  in  1857 
provides  that  every  free  white  man  of  the  age  of  21  years,  being  a 
native  or  naturalized  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who  has  been 
an  inhabitant  of  the  State  for  12  months  immediately  preceding 
the  day  of  any  election,  and  shall  have  paid  public  taxes,  shall  be 
entitled  to  vote  for  a  member  of  the  senate  for  the  district  in  which 
he  resides.     (See  Exhibit  L3.) 

Section  1  of  article  6  of  the  constitution  of  1868  provides  that 
every  male  person  born  in  the  United  States,  and  every  male  person 
who  has  been  naturalized,  21  years  of  age,  and  possessing  the  quali- 
fications set  out  in  said  article,  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  at  any  election 
by  the  people  in  the  State  except  as  therein  otherwise  provided. 
After  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  1868  the  right  of  franchise 
was  restored  to  the  Croatans.    ^^ 

The  amendment  of  1902  to  section  4  of  article  6  of  the  constitution 

of  1868  reads: 

Every  male  person  born  in  the  United  States,  and  every  male  person  who  has  been 
naturalized,  21  years  of  age  and  possessing  the  qiialifications  set  out  in  this  article, 
shall  be  entitled  to  vote  at  any  election  by  the  people  in  the  State  except  as  herein 
otherwise  provided. 

******* 

Sec.  4.  Every  person  presenting  himself  for  registration  shall  be  able  to  read  and 
write  any  section  of  the  constitution  in  the  English  language;  and  before  he  shall  be 
entitled  to  vote  he  shall  have  paid,  on  or  before  the  1st  day  of  Hay  of  the  year  in  which 
he  proposes  to  vote,  his  poll  tax  for  the  previous  year  as  prescribed  by  article  5,  section 
1,  of  the  constitution.  B\it  no  male  person  who  was  on  January- 1,  1867,  or  at  any  time 
prior  thereto,  entitled  to  vote  under  the  laws  of  any  State  in  the  United  States  wherein 
he  then  resided,  and  no  lineal  descendant  of  any  such  person,  shall  be  denied  the 
right  to  register  and  vote  at  any  election  in  this  State  by  reason  of  his  failure  to  possess 
the  educational  qualifications  herein  prescribed:  Provided,  He  shall  have  registered 
in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  this  section  prior  to  December  1,  1908.  The  general 
assembly  shall  pro\ide  for  the  registration  of  all  persons  entitled  to  vote  ■without  the 
educational  qualifications  herein  prescribed,  and  shall,  on  or  before  November  1, 
1908,  provide  for  the  making  of  a  permanent  record  of  such  registration,  and  all  persons 
80  registered  shall  forever  thereafter  have  the  right  to  vote  in  all  elections  by  the 
people  in  this  State  unless  disqualified  under  section  2  of  this  article:  Provided, 
Such  person  shall  have  paid  his  poll  tax  as  above  required. 

(See  Exhibit  L4.) 

This  section  is  what  is  known  as  the  "grandfather  clause"  of  the 
constitution  of  North  Carolina,  which  denies  the  right  of  franchise 
to  those  who  are  not  able  to  read  and  write  any  section  of  the  con- 
stitution in  the  English  language;  but  this  clause  is  held  not  to  apply 
to  the  Indians  of  Eobeson  County  for  the  reason  that  they,  or  their 
ancestors,  prior  to  1867,  or  at  a  time  prior  to  said  date,  were  entitled 
to  vote  under  the  laws  of  the  State.  The  Indians,  of  course,  must  pay 
their  poll  tax  and  must  comply  with  the  registration  provisions. 

In  the  case  of  the  State  v.  Manuel  (20  N.  C,  144)  Justice  Gaston  held : 

Upon  the  Revolution  no  other  change  took  place  in  the  laws  of  North  Carolina  than 
was  consequent  upon  the  transition  from  a  colony  dependent  upon  a  European  king 
to  a  free  and  sovereign  State.  Slaves  remained  slaves.  British  subjects  in  North 
Carolina  became  North  Carolina  freemen.  Foreigners,  until  made  members  (citi- 
zens) of  the  State,  continued  aliens.     Slaves  manumitted  here  became  freemen,  and 


28  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

therefore  if  born  within  North  Carolina  are  citizens  of  North  Carolina;  and  all  free 
persons  bom  within  the  State  are  bom  citizens  of  the  State. 

(See  Exhibit  L5.) 

Under  this  decision,  which  was  subsequent  to  the  constitution  of 
1835,  which  deprived  free  negroes  and  free  mulattoes  of  the  right  to 
vote,  "free  persons  of  color"  (the  Croatan  Indians)  were  not  included, 
and  it  seems  that  they  should  not  have  been  denied  the  right  of 
suffrage. 

Section  1  of  chapter  51,  laws  of  1885,  provides  that  the  Indians 
of  Robeson  County  and  their  descendants  shall  hereafter  "be 
designated  and  known  as  the  Croatan  Indians."  It  should  be  noted 
that  the  act  does  not  declare  that  they  are  Croatan  Indians,  but 
merely  designates  or  names  them  Croatans,  by  which  name  they  shall 
thereafter  be  known. 

Section  2  of  the  act  provides  that  said  Indians  and  their  descendants 
shall  have  separate  schools  for  their  children,  school  committees  of 
their  own  race  and  color,  and  shall  be  allowed  to  select  teachers  of 
their  own  choice,  subject  to  the  same  rules  and  regulations  that  are 
appUcable  under  the  general  school  law.  The  remaining  sections  of 
the  act  provide  for  putting  the  schools  into  operation  under  the 
general  laws  applicable  to  free  schools  within  the  State.  (See  Exhibit 
L5|.)  Prior  to  this  enactment  the  Indians  had  no  separate  schools 
for  the  education  of  their  children.  Efforts  had  been  made  to  com- 
pel them  to  attend  the  schools  established  for  the  negro  population, 
but  they  steadfastly  resisted  such  efforts  and  absolutely  decHned 
to  attend  the  colored  schools.  The  statistics  respecting  the  number 
of  schools,  number  of  children  of  school  age,  attendance,  etc.,  will  be 
found  under  a  separate  heading. 

Section  1,  chapter  400  of  the  laws  of  1887,  provides  that  W.  L. 
Moore,  James  Oxendine,  James  Dial,  Preston  Locklear,  and  others 
who  may  be  associated  with  them  shall  constitute  a  body  pohtic 
and  corporate  for  educational  purposes  in  the  county  of  Robeson, 
under  the  name  and  style  of  the  "Trustees  of  the  Croatan  Normal 
School";  that  they  shall  have  perpetual  succession  with  the  right 
to  sue  and  be  sued,  etc.  The  other  sections  of  the  act  provide  for 
putting  the  said  normal  school  into  operation,  and  section  7  appro- 
priates S500  annually  for  the  period  of  two  years  for  the  support  of 
the  school.  This  appropriation  has  been  increased  from  time  to 
time,  the  present  appropriation  for  the  support  of  the  school  being 
$2,750.  (See  Exhibit  L6.)  The  purpose  of  the  normal  school  is  to 
prepare  persons  as  teachers  for  their  public  schools,  and  I  understand 
that  practically  all  the  teachers  in  their  district  schools  have  attended 
the  normal  school. 

Section  1,  chapter  254  of  the  laws  of  1887,  amends  section  1810 
of  the  Code  of  North  Carolina  by  adding  thereto  the  words: 

That  all  marriages  between  an  Indian  and  a  negro  or  between  an  Indian  and  a 
person  of  negro  descent  to  the  third  generation,  inclusive,  shall  be  utterly  void: 
Provided,  That  the  act  shall  apply  only  to  the  Croatan  Indians. 

(See  Exhibit  L7.) 

Section  1,  chapter  458  of  the  laws  of  1889,  provides  that  the  Croatan 
Indians  of  Richmond  County  and  their  descendants  shall  be  entitled 
to  the  same  school  privileges  and  benefits  as  are  the  Croatan  Indians 
of  Robeson  County.     (See  Exhibit  L8.) 


INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  29 

Section  1,  chapter  60  of  the  laws  of  1889,  amends  section  2  of  the 
laws  of  1885  by  adding  after  the  word  "law,"  in  the  last  line  of  said 
section,  the  words: 

And  there  shall  be  excluded  from  such  separate  schools  for  the  said  Croatan  Indiana 
all  children  of  the  negro  race  to  the  fourth  generation. 

(See  Exhibit  L9.) 

Section  1,  chapter  536  of  the  laws  of  1897,  provides  for  the  ex- 
penditure of  an  unexpended  balance  of  $281.25,  being  the  unexpended 
appropriation  of  1895  for  the  support  of  the  Croatan  Normal  School, 
(See  Exhibit  LlO.) 

Section  1,  chapter  168  of  the  laws  of  1911,  authorizes  the  trustees 
of  the  Croatan  Normal  School  to  convey  the  property  by  deed  to  the 
State  board  of  education,  and  authorizes  said  board  to  accept  the 
same.  Section  2  authorizes  the  State  board  of  education  to  appoint 
seven  members  of  the  Indian  race,  formerly  known  as  Croatans,  to 
constitute  a  board  of  trustees  for  said  school,  and  the  remaining 
sections  provide  that  such  board  of  trustees  and  their  successors 
shall  manage  and  control  the  affairs  of  the  Croatan  Normal  School. 
(See  Exhibit  Lll.) 

Section  1,  chapter  215  of  the  laws  of  1911,  provides  that  chapter 
51  of  the  pubhc  laws  of  North  CaroUna,  session  of  1885,  be  amended 
by  striking  out  the  words  "Croatan  Indians"  wherever  the  same 
occur  in  said  chapter  and  inserting  in  heu  thereof  the  words  "Indians 
of  Robeson  County."  Section  2  provides  that  in  all  laws  enacted 
by  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  relating  to  said  Indians 
subsequent  to  the  enactment  of  said  chapter  51  of  the  laws  of  1885 
the  words  "Croatan  Indians"  shall  be  stricken  out  and  the  words 
"Indians  of  Robeson  County"  shall  be  inserted  in  lieu  thereof. 
Section  3  provides  that  the  said  Indians  residing  in  Robeson  and 
adjoining  counties,  who  have  heretofore  been  known  as  Croatan 
Indians,  together  with  their  descendents,  shall  hereafter  be  laiown 
and  designated  as  "Indians  of  Robeson  County,"  and  by  that  name 
shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  conferred  by  any  of 
the  laws  of  North  CaroUna  upon  the  Indians  heretofore  known  as 
Croatan  Indians.  Section  4  provides  that  the  school  situated  near 
the  town  of  Pembroke,  in  Robeson  County,  known  as  the  Croatan 
Indian  Normal  School,  shall  hereafter  be  known  and  designated  as 
"The  Indian  Normal  School  of  Robeson  County,"  and  under  that 
name  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  powers  heretofore 
conferred  by  law  upon  said  school. 

Section  5  of  the  act  takes  up  a  new  line  of  legislation  and  provides 
that  the  board  of  directors  of  the  State  hospital  for  the  insane  at 
Raleigh  be  authorized  and  directed  to  provide  and  set  apart  at  said 
hospital,  as  soon  after  the  passage  of  the  act  as  practicable,  suitable 
apartments  and  wards  for  the  accommodation  of  any  of  said  Indians 
01  Robeson  County  who  may  be  entitled  under  the  laws  relating  to 
insane  persons  to  be  admitted  to  said  hospital. 

Section  6  authorizes  and  directs  the  sheriff,  jailor,  or  other  proper 
authorities  of  Robeson  County  to  provide  in  the  common  jail  of  the 
county  and  in  the  Home  for  the  Aged  and  Infirm  of  Robeson  County 
separate  cells,  wards,  or  apartments  for  the  said  Indians  in  all  cases 
where  it  shall  be  necessary  under  the  laws  of  the  State  to  commit 
any  of  said  Indians  to  the  jail  or  to  the  County  Home  for  the  Aged 
and  Infirm.     (See  Exhibit  L12.) 


30  INDIANS   OP    NORTH    CAROLINA. 

Section  1,  chapter  123,  of  the  laws  of  1913,  provides  that  chapter 
215  of  the  public  laws  of  North  Carolina,  session  of  1911,  be  amended 
by  striking  out  in  the  last  line  of  section  1  of  said  act  the  words 
"Indians  of  Robeson  County,"  and  inserting  in  lieu  thereof  the  words 
"Cherokee  Indians  of  Robeson  County";  that  is  to  say,  the  designa- 
tion of  said  Indians  was  changed  from  "Indians  of  Robeson  County" 
to  "Cherokee  Indians  of  Robeson  County."  The  other  sections  of 
the  act  make  provision  for  the  corresponding  change  in  the  designation 
of  said  Indians  wherever  the  designation ' '  Indians  of  Robeson  County  " 
occurs  in  the  laws  of  the  State.     (See  Exhibit  Ll3.) 

Section  1,  chapter  199,  of  the  laws  of  1913,  enacted  March  12,  1913, 
provides  for  an  appropriation  of  $500  in  addition  to  the  $2,500 
already  appropriated  for  the  support  of  the  normal  school  for  said 
Indians,  for  the  years  1913  and  1914,     (See  Exhibit  Ll4.) 

THEIR   NEEDS. 

As  already  indicated,  a  considerable  number  of  these  Indians, 
probably  rather  less  than  one-eighth,  are  prosperous  farmers;  another 
group,  amounting  approximately  to  one-eighth,  are  fairly  well-to-do; 
about  one-half  of  them  would  be  classed  as  poor  people,  and  about 
one-quarter  of  them  as  very  poor,  but  entirely  self-supporting.  This 
classification  relates  to  the  families,  considered  as  a  unit.  The  fami- 
lies, as  a  rule,  are  very  large,  and  the  children  under  18  years  of  age 
greatly  outnumber  the  adults.  Any  financial  assistance  extended 
to  the  poorer  classes,  in  the  way  of  furnishing  them  with  lands  and 
with  means  to  properly  cultivate  their  lands,  would  be  of  great  benefit 
to  them  and  would  undoubtedly  be  gratefully  received. 

In  a  personal  canvas  of  a  very  large  number  of  the  heads  of  families 
I  found  that  they  differed  widely  as  to  what  would  be  the  best  method 
of  extending  assistance  to  individual  families,  but  there  was  entire 
unanimity  of  opinion  as  to  the  way  in  which  the  entire  body  of  people 
could  best  be  helped,  namely,  in  providing  them  with  some  higher 
institution  of  learning  where  the  more  ambitious  of  their  young 
people  could  obtain  a  better  education  than  is  now  possible  and  better 
training  for  useful  occupations  in  life. 

.  Their  district  schools  I  am  told  will  compare  favorably  with  the 
district  schools  of  the  colored  people  and  the  whites  residing  in  the 
same  vicinities,  and  their  normal  school,  if  better  equipped  and  better 
supported,  would  furnish  them  teachers  for  their  district  schools, 
but  there  are  no  higher  institutions  of  learning  in  North  Carolina, 
to  which  they  have  access,  where  they  can  send  their  youth  who 
desire  to  obtain  a  more  liberal  education;  the  State  institutions  for 
the  education  of  the  white  and  colored  youth  are  not  open  to  the 
Indians  of  Robeson  and  adjoining  counties.  In  consequence,  their 
young  people  who  desire  to  obtain  a  better  education  than  that 
furnished  through  the  medium  of  the  normal  school  are  unable  at 
present  to  do  so.  It  is  true  that  these  young  people  could  attend 
the  Carlisle  Indian  School,  and  other  nonreservation  Indian  schools, 
but  most  of  them  are  too  poor  to  do  so,  and  besides  these  nonreser- 
vation Indian  schools  do  not  furnish  precisely  the  character  of 
training  they  desire. 

In  addition  to  the  common  or  district  schools  and  the  normal 
schools  for  both  white  and  colored  children,   the  State  of  North 


INDIANS  OF   NOETH   CAEOLINA.  31 

Carolina  has  provided  the  youth  of  both  these  races  with  institu- 
tions of  learning  imparting  instruction  in  agriculture  and  the 
mechanic  trades,  and  to  some  extent  in  domestic  science;  but  there 
are  no  such  schools  of  higher  instruction  open  to  these  Indians,  As 
I  understand  the  matter,  they  are  prohibited  by  law  from  attending 
these  higher  institutions  of  learning  established  for  the  education  of 
white  and  colored  youth.  It  is  conjectured  that  the  very  limited 
number  of  these  Indians,  compared  with  the  white  and  colored 
population,  accounts  for  this  discrimination. 

I  might  say  here  that  in  my  judgment,  the  children  of  these 
Indians,  as  a  rule,  are  exceedingly  bright,  quick  to  learn  from  books, 
as  well  as  from  example,  and  are  very  eager  to  obtain  further  educa- 
tional advantages  than  are  now  open  to  them.  If  the  reverse  were 
true,  there  would  be  little  encouragement  to  furnish  them  with 
higher  institutions  of  learning  when  they  were  incapable  of  taking 
advantage  of  their  present  educational  facilities  or  indifferent  about 
obtaining  a  higher  education;  but  I  believe  the  more  ambitious  of 
their  youth  to  be  eager  to  attend  higher  institutions  of  learning 
than  those  now  provided. 

While  these  Indians  are  essentially  an  agricultural  people,  I 
believe  them  to  be  as  capable  of  learning  the  mechanical  trades  as 
the  average  white  youth.  The  foregoing  facts  suggest  the  char- 
acter of  the  educational  institution  that  should  be  established  for 
them,  in  case  Congress  sees  fit  to  make  the  necessary  appropriation, 
namely,  the  establishment  of  an  agricultural  and  mechanical  school, 
in  which  domestic  science  shall  also  be  taught. 

The  preparation  of  this  report  has  been  somewhat  delayed  since 
my  return  from  North  Carolina  because  of  the  great  amount  of  his- 
torical research  called  for  by  the  investigation. 

The  correspondence  in  connection  with  the  investigation  is  filed 
as  Exhibit  M. 

Very  respectfully  submitted. 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent 


EXHIBIT  A. 
Exhibit  Al. 

SENATE     RESOLUTION    410,     SIXTY-THIRD     CONGRESS,     SECOND 

SESSION. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  be,  and  he  hereby  is, 
directed  to  cause  an  investigation  to  be  made  of  the  condition  and 
tribal  rights  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson  and  adjoining  counties  of 
North  CaroUna,  recently  declared  by  the  Legislature  of  North  Caro- 
Una  to  be  Cherokees,  and  formerly  known  as  Croatans,  and  report  to 
Congress  what  tribal  rights,  if  any,  they  have  with  any  band  or  tribe; 
whether  they  are  entitled  to  or  have  received  any  lands,  or  whether 
there  are  any  moneys  due  them,  their  present  condition,  their  educa- 
tional facihties,  and  such  other  facts  as  would  enable  Congress  to 
determine  whether  the  Government  would  be  warranted  in  making 
suitable  provision  for  their  support  and  education. 


Exhibit  A2. 
OFFICE    INSTRUCTIONS   JULY   23,  1914. 

Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Washington,  July  23,  1914. 
Mr.  O.  M.  MoPiiERSON,  S fecial  Agent. 

My  Dear  Mr.  McPherson:  Upon  the  receipt  of  these  instructions, 
or  as  soon  thereafter  as  practicable,  you  will  proceed  to  North  Caro- 
lina for  the  purpose  of  investigating  the  affairs  of  the  Croatan  Indians 
of  Robeson  and  adjoining  counties  of  that  State,  as  provided  for  by 
Senate  resolution  410. 
This  resolution  reads : 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  be,  and  he  hereby  ia,  directed  to  cause 
an  investigation  to  be  made  of  the  condition  and  tribal  rights  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson 
and  adjoining  counties  of  North  Carolina,  recently  declared  by  the  Legislature  of 
North  Carolina  to  be  Cherokees,  and  formerly  kown  as  Croatans,  and  report  to  Congresa 
what  tribal  rights,  if  any,  they  have  with  any  band  or  tribe;  whether  they  are  entitled 
to  or  have  received  any  lands,  or  whether  there  are  any  moneys  due  them,  their  present 
condition,  their  educational  facilities,  and  such  other  facts  as  would  enable  Congresa 
to  determine  whether  the  Government  would  be  warranted  in  making  suitable  pro- 
vision for  their  support  and  education. 

Extreme  care  should  be  exercised  by  you  in  obtaining  all  pertinent 

facts  relative  to  the  condition  and  tribal  rights  of  these  Indians  in 

order  that  this  office  may  be  prepared  to  submit  to  the  next  Congress, 

through  the  department,  full  information  responsive  to  said  resolution. 

Very  truly,  yours, 

Cato  Sells,  Commissioner. 

32 


INDIANS  OP   NOBTH   CAROLINA.  33 

Exhibit  A3. 

ELEVENTH  CENSUS   UNITED    STATES,  1890. 

NoKTH  Carolina. 

Indian  ^population  as  of  June  1,  1890. 
Total 1,516 


Indians  in  prison,  not  otherwise  enumerated 2 

Indians,  self-supporting  and  taxed  (counted  in  the  general  census) 1,  514 

The  civilized  (seK-supporting)  Indians  of  North  Carohna,  counted 
in  the  general  census,  number  1,514  (741  males  and  773  females), 
and  are  distributed  as  follows : 

Cherokee  County,  47;  Cumberland  County,  28;  Graham  County, 
151;  Harnett  Coimty,  27;  Jackson  County,  314;  Moore  County,  15; 
Robeson  County,  l74;  Swain  County,  700;  other  counties  (7  or  less 
in  each),  58. 

The  Indians  of  North  Carolina  are  mostly  descendants  of  the  Chero- 
kees,  many  of  whom  have  so  little  Indian  blood  as  in  no  way  to 
attract  the  attention  of  a  stranger.  A  considerable  property  interest 
attaches  to  membership  in  the  Cherokee  tribe,  and  it  is  claimed  by 
some  parties  that  there  are  more  entitled  to  enumeration  as  Indians 
than  were  so  designated  by  the  census  enumerators. 

It  is  in  no  way  surprising  that  enumerators  should  return  so  few 
Indians,  as  many  of  them  are  not  distinguishable  from  whites  except 
on  special  investigation  as  to  their  racial  relations.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  claims  of  some  who  wish  to  be  enrolled  as  Cherokees  would 
be  disputed.  There  is  a  marked  tendency  among  the  eastern  Chero- 
kees to  emigrate  to  the  Indian  Territory,  and  the  number  in  North 
Carolina  appears  to  be  gradually  diminishing  from  this  cause. 

By  the  laws  of  North  Carolina  the  Indians  vote  and  they  are  sub- 
ject to  a  property  tax,  but  they  are  not  allowed  within  the  third 
generation  to  marry  whites. 

The  Indians  of  North  Carolina  were  enumerated  with  the  general 
population  and  were  entered  as  1,514,  of  whom  174  are  in  Robeson 
County  and  are  known  as  Croatans.  Claims  are  made  that  both 
Croatans  and  Cherokees  far  exceed  the  numbers  given  by  census 
enumerators  for  Indians  in  the  counties  in  which  these  people  live. 
The  State  of  North  Carolina  recognizes  a  greater  number  as  Croatans 
than  are  returned  as  Indians  in  Robeson  County. 

THE  CROATANS. 

A  body  of  people  residing  chiefly  in  Robeson  County,  N.  C,  laiown 
as  the  Croatan  Indians,  are  generally  white,  showing  the  Indian 
mostly  in  actions  and  habits.  They  were  enumerated  by  the  regular 
census  enumerator  in  part  as  whites.  They  are  clannish  and  hold 
with  considerable  pride  to  the  traditions  that  they  are  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Croatans  of  the  Raleigh  period  of  North  Carolina  and 
Virginia. 

;Mr.  Hamilton  McMiUan,  of  FayetteviUe,  N.  C,  in  1888,  published 
apamphlet  of  27  pages,  the  title  page  of  which  is  as  follows:  "Sii 
Walter  Raleigh's  Lost  Colony    *     *     *     with  the  traditions  of  ac 

75321"— S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 3 


34  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Indian  tribe  in  North  Carolina,"  Wilson,  N.  C.  This  pamphlet  is  to 
show  that  Raleigh's  colony  was  carried  off  by  the  Indians,  and  that 
the  Croatan  Indians  of  North  Carolina  are  their  descendants.  Mr. 
McMillan  also,  in  answering  an  inquiry  in  reference  t)  the  Croatans, 
wrote  the  following  to  the  Conimissioner  of  Indan  Affairs: 

Red  Springs,  N.  C,  July  17,  1890. 

*  *  *  The  Croatan  tribe  lives  principally  in  Robeson  County,  N.  C,  though 
there  is  quite  a  number  of  them  settled  in  counties  adjoining  in  North  and  South 
Carolina.  In  Sumter  County,  S.  C,  there  is  a  branch  of  the  tribe,  and  also  in  east 
Tennessee.  In  Macon  County,  N.  C,  there  is  another  branch,  settled  there  long  ago. 
Those  living  in  east  Tennessee  are  called  "Melungeans, "  a  name  also  retained  by 
them  here,  which  is  a  corruption  of  "Melange,"  a  name  given  them  by  early  settlers 
(French),  which  means  mixed.  *  *  *  In  regard  to  their  exodus  from  Roanoke 
Island  their  traditions  are  confirmed  by  maps  recently  discovered  in  Europe  by  Prof. 
Alexander  Brown,  member  of  the  Royal  Historical  Society  of  England.  These  maps 
are  dated  in  1608  and  1610,  and  give  the  reports  of  the  Croatans  to  Raleigh's  ships 
which  visited  our  coast  in  those  years.  *  *  *  The  particulars  of  the  exodus  pre- 
served by  tradition  here  are  strangely  and  strongly  corroborated  by  these  maps. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  of  the  fact  that  the  Croatans  in  Robeson  County  and  else- 
where are  the  descendants  of  the  Croatans  of  Raleigh's  day. 

In  1885  I  got  the  North  CaroUna  Legislature  to  recognize  them  as  Croatans  and  give 
them  separate  public  schools.  In  1887  I  got  $500  a  year  from  the  State  for  a  normal 
school  for  them  for  2  years.  In  1889  the  appropriation  was  extended  three  years 
longer. 

Their  normal  school  needs  help;  at  least  $500  more  is  needed.  The  appropriation 
for  the  public  schools  amounts  to  less  than  $1  a  head  per  annum. 

February  10,  1885,  the  general  assembly  of  North  Carolina  pro- 
vided by  law  for  separate  schools  for  the  Croatan  Indians  of  North 
Carolina.     This  act  contained  the  following: 

Whereas  the  Indians  now  living  in  Robeson  County  claim  to  be  descendants  of  a 
friendly  tribe  who  once  resided  in  eastern  North  Carolina,  on  the  Roanoke  River, 
known  as  the  Croatan  Indians,  therefore,  the  general  assembly  of  North  Carolina  do 
enact: 

Section  1.  That  the  said  Indians  and  their  descendants  shall  hereafter  be  desig- 
nated and  known  as  the  Croatan  Indians. 

The  provisions  for  separate  schools  follow. 

March  7,  1887,  the  general  assembly  of  North  Carolina  established 
the  Croatan  normal  school  in  Robeson  County  for  the  Croatan  In- 
dians, and  February  2,  1889,  the  same  body  enacted  that  all  children 
of  the  negro  race  to  the  fourth  generation  should  be  excluded  from 
the  Croatan  separate  Indian  schools.  The  Croatan  normal  school  is 
at  Pates. 

The  census'  enumerators  recognized  174  persons  in  Robeson 
County  as  Indians.  The  State  school  report  for  the  year  ending 
June  30,  1890,  shows  649  boys  and  593  girls  between  6  and  21  years 
of  age  among  the  Croatans  of  Robeson  County,  of  whom  188  boys 
and  422  girls  attended  school.  The  disbursements  for  the  Croatan 
schools  by  the  county  treasurer  were  $765.75  to  pay  teachers  and 
S284.87  for  schoolhouses  and  sites. 

J.  W.  Powell,  under  date  of  January  11,  1889,  wrote  of  the 
Croatans : 

Croatan  was  in  1585  and  thereabouts  the  name  of  an  island  and  Indian  village  just 
north  of  Cape  Hatteras,  N.  C.  White's  colony  of  120  men  and  women  was  landed  on 
Roanoke  Island,  just  to  the  north,  in  1587,  and  in  1590,  when  White  returned  to  revisit 
the  colony,  he  found  no  trace  of  it  on  Roanoke  Island,  save  the  name  "Croatoan"  carved 
upon  a  tree,  which,  according  to  a  previous  understanding,  was  interpreted  to  mean 
that  the  colonists  had  left  Roanoke  Island  for  Croatan.    No  actual  trace  of  the  miss- 


INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA.  35 

ing  colonists  was  ever  found,  but  more  than  100  years  afterward  Lawson  obtained 
traditional  information  from  tbe  Hatteras  Indians  which  led  him  to  believe  that  the 
colonists  had  been  incorporated  with  the  Indians.  It  was  thought  that  traces  of 
white  blood  could  be  discovered  among  the  Indians,  some  among  them  having  gray- 
eyes.  It  is  probable  that  the  greater  number  of  the  colonists  were  killed;  but  it  was 
quite  in  keeping  with  the  Indian  usages  that  a  greater  or  less  number,  especially 
women  and  children,  should  have  been  made  captive  and  subsequently  incorporated 
into  the  tribe.  The  best  authority  to  be  consulted  with  regard  to  the  above  colony 
is  Hawks'  History  of  North  Carolina,  Fayette\dlle,  N.  C,  1859,  volume  I,  pages  211, 
225,  258. 

The  region  inhabited  by  the  Oroatans  is  a  low  woodland,  swampy 
region,  locally  loiown  as  pocoson  land,  abounding  in  whortleberries 
and  blackberries,  which  bring  some  revenue  to  the  people.  The 
existence  of  a  peculiar  people,  claiming  Indian  ancestry  and  nomi- 
nally distinct  from  negroes  and  whites,  has  not  prevented  such  ad- 
mixture as  to  confuse  every  inquner  who  has  undertaken  to  solve 
their  relations  and  the  numbers  of  those  rightfully  claiming  any 
defined  racial  distinctions,  but  it  has  made  certain  districts  a  refuge 
for  men  of  all  races  who  preferred  the  half  wild  life  of  the  woods  to 
regular  labor,  or  who  preferred  the  bullet  to  the  slow  forms  of  law 
to  settle  difficulties,  in  past  years  some  of  the  most  noted  disturb- 
ances in  the  State  seem  due  to  a  desperado  whose  racial  connections 
are  not  clearly  known,  who  married  among  the  Croatans,  and  who 
was  finally  brought  to  justice  only  when  the  governor  called  out  the 
militia.     No  such  disturbance  has  occurred  in  recent  year^. 


EXHIBIT  B. 
Exhibit  Bl. 

PETITION  OF   CROATAN   INDIANS. 

State  op  North  Carolina, 

County  of  Robeson. 
To  the  Jionorahle  the  Congress  of  the  United  States: 

The  undersigned,  your  petitioners,  a  part  of  the  Croatan  Indians, 
hving  in  the  county  and  State  aforesaid,  their  residence  for  a  hundred 
years  or  more,  respectfully  petition  your  honorable  body  for  such 
aid  as  you  may  see  fit  to  extend  to  them,  the  amount  to  be  appro- 
priated to  be  used  for  the  sole  and  exclusive  purpose  of  assisting  your 
petitioners  and  other  Croatans  in  said  county  and  State  to  educate 
their  children  and  fit  them  for  the  duties  of  American  citizenship. 

Your  petitioners  would  show  that  there  are  in  said  county,  of  legal 
school  age,  of  the  Croatan  race,  eleven  hundred  and  sixty-five  (1,165 
in  December,  1887)  children.  That  the  Croatans  in  said,  county  and 
State  are  industrious  citizens,  engaged  for  the  most  part  in  agricul- 
tural pursuits,  and  are  unable  to  give  to  their  children  the  benefits  of 
proper  educational  training,  and  would,  as  aforesaid,  most  respectfully 
petition  your  honorable  body  to  assist  them. 

Your  petitioners  are  a  remnant  of  White's  lost  colony  and  during 
the  long  years  that  have  passed  since  the  disappearance  of  said  colony 
have  been  struggling  unaided  and  alone  to  fit  themselves  and  their 
children  for  the  exalted  privileges  and  duties  of  American  freemen, 
and  now  for  the  first  time  ask  your  honorable  body  to  come  to  their 
assistance. 

And  your  petitioners  as  in  duty  bound,  etc. 

James  Oxendine,  Ashbury  Oxendine,  Zackriors  Oxendine, 
J.  J.  Oxendine,  Billey  Locklear,  Malakiah  Locklear, 
Preston  Locklear,  John  Ballard,  Crolly  Locklear, 
G.  W.  Locklear,  Patrick  Locklear,  Luther  Deas, 
Marcus  Dial,  Joseph  Locklear,  Alex  Locklear,  Frank 
Locklear,  W.  W.  Locklear,  J.  E.  Lovit,  Beni  Locklear, 
John  Locklear,  Joseph  Locklear,  jr.,  Soleomon  Oxen- 
dine, A.  J.  Lowrie,  John  A.  Locklear,  Soleomon  Lock- 
lear, Anguish  A.  Locklear,  Silas  Deas,  Olline  Oxen- 
dine, Isad  Braboy,  James  Lowrie,  John  A.  Lockler, 
Marcus  Dial,  Josep  Lockler,  Eliach  Lockler,  Frank 
Locklar,  W.  W.  Lockler,  J.  E.  Lovet,  Buey  Lockler, 
John  Lockler,  Jorge  Brayboy,  Pink  Lockler,  John  E. 
Oxendine,  William  Sampson,  Steven  Carter,  Evert 
Sampson,  Wues  Sampson,  John  Sampson,  Rober 
Carter,  Quin  Gordan,  Jordan  Oxendine,  James  R. 
Sanderson,  Peater  DyaU,  Willey  Jacobs,  Murdock 
Chavons. 
36 


i]sn>iA]srs  OF  north  Carolina.  37 

Your  petitioners  above  named  respectfully  ask  that  if  your  honor- 
able body  admits  an  educational  aid  that  it  be  so  appropriated  for 
the  trustees  of  the  normal  school  in  said  county  to  use  so  much  thereof 
as  may  be  necessary  to  complete. the  normal-school  building,  and  that 
the  residue  be  apphed  for  the  purpose  of  training  teachers  among 
the  Croatan  race  who  may  attend  said  school. 


Exhibit  B2. 


OFFICE  LETTER  TO  HON.  J.  W.  POWELL,  JANUARY  7,  1889. 

Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Washington,  January  7,  1889. 
Hon.  J.  W.  Powell, 

Director  Bureau  of  EtTinology,  City. 
Dear  Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  inclose  herewith  copy  of  a  com- 
munication signed  with  54  names  of  persons  who  claim  to  be  "Croatan 
Indians^'  and   descendants   of   ''White's  lost   colony,"  in   Robeson 
County,  N.  C. 

There  is  no  record  in  this  office  of  any  such  Indians  or  any  such  a 
colony,  and  I  can  find  no  reference  to  them  in  any  history  at  my 
command. 

Can  you  kindly  furnish  me  with  any  information  on  the  subject 
and  much  obhge. 

Yours,  respectfully, 

Jno.  H.  Oberly,  Oomnfiissioner. 


Exhibit  B3. 
LETTER  OF  J.  W.  POWELL  TO  INDIAN  OFFICE,  JANUARY  11,  1889. 

Smithsonian  Institution, 

Bureau  of  Ethnology, 
Washington,  D.  C,  January  11,  1889. 
Hon.  John  H.  Oberly, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs. 

Sir:  In  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  7th  instant  with  inclosure  re- 
questing information  in  regard  to  the  Croatan  Indians,  I  beg  leave  to 
say  that  Croatan  was  in  1585  and  thereabouts  the  name  of  an  island 
and  Indian  village  just  north  of  Cape  Hatteras,  N.  C.  White's  colony 
of  120  men  and  women  was  landed  on  Roanoke  Island  just  to  the 
north  in  1587,  and  in  1590,  when  White  returned  to  revisit  the  colony,  he 
found  no  trace  of  it  on  Roanoke  Island  save  the  name  "Croatoan," 
carved  upon  a  tree,  which,  according  to  a  previous  understanding, 
was  interpreted  to  mean  that  the  colonists  had  left  Roanoke  Island 
for  Croatan.  No  actual  trace  of  the  missing  colonists  was  ever 
found,  but  more  than  100  years  afterwards  Lawson  obtained  tradi- 
tional information  from  the  Hatteras  Indians  which  led  him  to 
beheve  that  the  colonists  had  been  incorporated  with  the  Indians. 
It  was  thought  that  traces  of  white  blood  could  be  discovered  among 
the  Indians,  some  among  them  having  gray  eyes.     It  is  probable 


38  INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

that  the  greater  number  of  the  colonists  were  killed ;  but  it  was  quite 
in  keeping  with  Indian  usages  that  a  greater  or  less  number,  espe- 
cially women  and  children,  should  have  been  made  captive  and 
subsequently  incorporated  into  the  tribe.  The  best  authority  to  be 
consulted  with  regard  to  the  above  colony  is  Hawks'  History  of 
North  Carolina,  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  1859,  Volume  I,  pages  211,  "225, 
228.  The  book  may  be  obtained  from  the  Congressional  Library. 
Bancroft  (History  oi  U.  S.,  Vol.  I,  p.  77,  treated  at  great  length  in 
his  early  edition;  and  other  authors  mention  the  main  facts,  but 
their  accounts  rest  upon  Hawks'.  It  is  understood  that  Mr.  Hamilton 
McMillan,  of  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  will  soon  publish  a  book  attempting 
to  show  that  Raleigh's  colony  was  carried  off  by  the  Indians  and  that 
their  descendants  are  now  hving  in  Robeson  County,  N.  C. 
I  am,  yours,  with  respect, 

J.  W.  Powell,  Director. 


Exhibit  B4. 
OFFICE    LETTER   TO   HAMILTON   McMILLAN,   JANUARY    29,    1889. 

Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 
WasMngton,  January  29,  1889. 
Hamilton  McMij^lan,  Esq., 

Fayetteville,  N.  0. 
Sir:  I  have  received  a  petition  from  parties  in  Robeson  County, 
N.  C,  in  which  the  claim  is  made  that  they  are  "Croatan"  Indians, 
descendants  of  "White's  lost  colony,"  and  asking  Government  aid 
for  the  education  of  their  children,  numbering  about  1,100. 

I  am  informed  that  you  are  familiar  with  the  history  of  these 
people,  and  if  so,  I  will  thank  you  for  any  information  you  will  fur- 
nish me.  Are  they  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  are  they  entitled 
to  the  educational  advantages  furnished  by  the  State  of  North 
CaroUna  ? 

Please  answer  at  your  earliest  convenience  and  oblige, 
Yours,  respectfully, 

Jno.  H.  Oberly,  Commissioner. 


Exhibit  B5. 

LETTER  OF  W.  L.  MOORE  TO  INDIAN  OFFICE,  JULY  2,  1890. 

Osborne,  N.  C,  July  2,  1890. 
Mr.  T.  W.  Belt,  Washington,  D.  0. 

Dear  Sir:  Answering  your  letter  of  7th  ultimo  wiU  say  that  the 
people  in  whose  behalf  we  wrote  are  not  the  Eastern  Cherokees,  but 
the  Croatan  Indians.  Therefore  they  receive  nothing  ap])ropriated 
for  the  Cherokees.  The  people  for  which  I  am  officially  interested 
have  as  a  general  thing  grown  up  without  so  much  as  the  rudiments 
of  education,  yet  the  youth  who  have  had  (to  some  degree)  better 
opportunities  for  educating  themselves  show  that  the  moral,  intel- 
lectual, and  social  aptitudes  in  them  are  real.     Can  not  something  be 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  39 

obtained  to  assist  them  in  a  normal  school  for  them?     If  so,  please 
direct  me  how  to  proceed. 

There  are  1,100  children  between  the  ages  of  6  and  21  years  who 
need  contmual  instruction. 

Please  reply  at  the  earliest  convenience. 
Very  respectfully, 

W.  L.  Moore. 


Exhibit  B6. 

office  letter  to  hamilton  mcmillan,  jitly  14,  1890. 

Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Washington,  July  14,  1890. 
Hamilton  McMillan,  Fayetteville,  N.  C. 

Sir:  On  the  29th  of  January,  1889,  a  report  from  the  Bureau  of 
Ethnology  in  regard  to  the  Croatan  Indians  w^as  mailed  to  you  with 
the  request  that  information  be  forwarded  to  this  office  in  regard 
to  these  people.  Inclosed  fmd  copy  of  the  letter.  No  communi- 
cation has  been  received  from  you  in  response  to  the  office  letter 
mentioned.  The  subject  is  again  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
Indian  Office  by  Mr.  W.  L.  Moore,  of  Osborne,  N.  C,  in  a  letter 
dated  July  2,  copy  of  which  is  also  inclosed  herewith. 

I  trust  that  you  will  promptly  respond  to  this  communication 
and   return   the  document   mailed   to   you    January  29    with  such 
information  as  you  can  give. 
Very  respectfully, 

T.  J.  Morgan,  Commissioner. 


Exhibit  B7. 


LETTER  OF  HAMILTON  McMILLAN  TO   INDIAN  OFFICE,  JULY    17, 

1890. 

Ked  Springs,  N.  C,  July  17,  1890. 
T.  J.  Morgan,  Esq., 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  Washington. 

My  Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  of  July  14  ultimo  just  to  hand.  The 
communication  and  report  from  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  to  which 
you  refer  were  never  received,  and  your  letter  just  received  conveys 
the  first  intimation  of  their  having  been  sent.  Had  they  been 
received  I  w^ould  have  responded  with  pleasure. 

I  inclose  to  you  to-day  a  copy  of  a  pamphlet  containing  much  of 
interest  in  this  connection.  The  pamphlet  was  written  very  hastily 
nearly  two  years  ago  in  order  to  give  the  North  Carolina  Legislature 
some  information,  as  the  Croatans  were  asking  some  legislation  in 
their  behalf. 

The  Croatan  Tribe  lives  principally  in  Robeson  County,  N.  C, 
though  there  are  quite  a  number  of  them  settled  in  counties  adjoining 
in  North  and  South  Carolina.  In  Sumter  County,  S.  C,  there  is  a 
branch  of  the  tribe  and  also  in  East  Tennessee.  In  Lincoln  County, 
N.  C,  there  is  another  branch,  settled  there  long  ago.  Those  li^dng  in 
East    Tennessee   are   called    "M'^lungeans,"    a   name    also   retamed 


40  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

by  them  here,  which  is  a  corruption  of  Melange,  a  name  given  them 
by  early  settlers  (French),  which  means  mixed.  The  pamphlet  sent 
you  will  outline  their  history  as  far  as  it  can  be  discovered  from  their 
traditions.  In  regard  to  their  exodus  from  RoanoTce  Island  their 
traditions  are  conhrmed  by  maps  recently  discovered  in  Europe  by 
Prof.  Alexander  Brown,  member  of  the  Royal  Historical  Society  of 
England.  These  maps  are  dated  in  1608  and  1610,  and  give  the 
reports  of  the  Croatans  to  Raleigh's  ships,  which  visited  our  coast  in 
those  years.  These  maps  will  be  lithographed  and  published  in  a 
book,  now  being  prepared  by  Prof.  Brown.  The  particulars  of  the 
exodus  preserved  by  tradition  here  are  strangely  and  strongly 
corroborated  by  these  maps.  There  can  be  little  doubt  of  the  fact 
that  the  Croatans  in  Robeson  County  and  elsewhere  are  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Croatans  of  Raleigh's  day.  In  1885  I  got  the  North 
Carolina  Legislature  to  recognize  them  as  Croatans  and  give  them 
separate  public  schools.  In  1887  I  got  $500  a  year  from  the  State 
for  a  normal  school  for  them  for  two  years.  In  1889  the  appropria- 
tion was  extended  two  years  longer. 

Their  normal  school  needs  help — at  least  $500  more  is  needed. 
The  appropriation  to  the  public  schools  amounts  to  less  than  a  dollaT* 
a  head  per  annum" 

If  you  can  aid  them  in  the  way  desired  we  would  be  glad.  They 
are  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  entitled  to  the  educational 
privileges  enjoyed  by  other  citizens,  but  those  advanatges  are  not 
much. 

Respectfully, 

Hamilton  McMillan. 

Exhibit  B8. 
OFFICE   LETTER  TO   W.   L.   MOORE,   AUGUST   11,   1890. 

Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Washington,  August  11,  1890. 
W.  L.  Moore,  Oshorne,  N.  G. 

Sir:  Referring  to  your  letter  of  July  2  and  office  response  thereto 
of  the  16th,  I  have  received  a  communication  from  Hamilton  Mc- 
Millan, of  Red  Springs,  N.  C,  setting  forth  the  situation  of  the  Croatan 
Indians  very  fully.  It  appears  from  his  statement  that  this  band  is 
recognized  by  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  has  been  admitted  to 
citizenship,  and  the  State  has  undertaken  the  work  of  their  education. 

While  I  regret  exceedingly  that  the  provisions  made  by  the  State 
of  North  Carolina  seem  to  be  entirely  inadequate,  I  find  it  quite 
impracticable  to  render  any  assistance  at  this  time.  The  Govern- 
ment is  responsible  for  the  education  of  sometliin^  like  36,000  Indian 
children  and  has  provisions  for  less  than  half  this  number.  So  long  as 
the  immediate  wards  of  the  Government  are  so  insufficiently  provided 
for,  I  do  not  see  how  I  can  consistently  render  any  assistance  to  the 
Croatans  or  any  other  civilized  tribes. 

I  am  obliged  to  you  for  calling  my  attention  to  the  matter,  and 
have  been  very  much  interested  in  the  information  furnished  by 
Mr.  McMillan  regardii\g  this  very  interesting  tribe. 
Very  respectfully, 

T.  J.  Morgan,  Commissioner, 


EXHIBIT  C. 
SIR  WALTER  RAI^IGH'S   LOST  COLONY. 

[By  Hamilton  McMillan.] 

AN  HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE  ATTEMPTS  OF  SIK  WALTER  RALEIGH  TO 
ESTABLISH  A  COLONY  IN  VIRGINIA,  WITH  THE  TRADITIONS  OF  AN 
INDIAN  TRIBE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA,  INDICATING  THE  FATE  OF  THE 
COLONY  OF  ENGLISHMEN  LEFT  ON  ROANOKE    ISLAND  IN  1587. 

Chapter  I. 

In  1583,  "Elizabeth,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  of  England,  France,  and 
Ireland,  Queen,  defender  of  the  faith,"  granted  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
his  heirs  and  assigns  forever,  letters  patent  "to  discover,  search,  fiiid, 
and  view  such  remote  heathen  and  barbarous  lands,  countries,  and 
territories,  not  actuaUj  possessed  of  any  Christian  Prince,  nor  inhab- 
ited by  Christian  people,  as  to  him,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  to  every  or 
any  of  them  shall  seem  good,  and  the  same  to  have,  hold,  and  occupy 
and  enjoy,  to  him,  his  heirs,  and  assigns  forever." 

It  was  provided  further  that  a  settlement  should  be  made  in  the 
territory  granted  within  six  years  next  succeeding  the  date  of  the 
letters  patent. 

This  grant  was  made  during  one  of  the  most  critical  periods  of 
British  history.  The  Protestant  Elizabeth  had  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  Netherlands  and  had  given  high  offense  to  Spain  by  rejecting 
the  proposed  matrimonial  alliance  with  PhiUp,  the  reigning  monarch 
of  that  country.  The  Armada,  consisting  of  140  ships  of  war  and 
carrying  fully  30,000  men,  threatened  an  early  attack  upon  England. 
Powerful  allies  stood  ready  to  assist  King  Phihp.  The  length  of 
time  necessary  to  complete  this  powerful  armament  had  afforded  to 
Ehzabeth  opportunity  to  prepare  for  the  impending  danger.  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  then  enjoyed  high  favor  at  court.  The  Queen  early 
discovered  his  soldierly  quahties  and  intellectual  abihty,  and  in  addi- 
tion to  high  rank  which  she  bestowed  upon  him,  readily  granted  him 
and  his  heirs  extensive  territory  in  North  America.  Raleigh  was  one 
of  the  most  skillful  generals  of  his  times,  and  while  actively  engaged 
in  the  preparation  for  the  threatened  invasion  of  England,  found 
opportunity  to  fit  out  an  expedition  to  the  coast  of  America  to  make 
discoveries  and  to  locate  a  colony  in  comphance  with  the  terms  of  his 
grant.  The  commanders  of  the  expedition  were  PhiUp  Amadas  and 
Arthur  Barlowe,  who  sailed  with  two  barks  from  the  coast  of  Eng- 
land on  the  15th  day  of  April,  1584,  O.  S.,  and  reached  the  coast  of 
America  in  July  of  the  same  year.  They  sailed  along  the  coast  for 
120  miles  before  they  found  any  entrance  or  river  issuing  into  the 
sea.  These  navigators  probably  entered  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  on  the 
coast  of  what  is  now  North  Carolina,  and  having  anchored  "within  the 

41 


42  IlSTDIAlSrS   OF    NORTH   CAEOLINA. 

haven's  moutli  on  the  left  hand  of  the  same,"  they  went  in  boats  '*to 
view  the  land  adjoining  and  to  take  possession  of  the  same  in  right  of 
the  Queen's  most  excellent  majesty  as  rightful  Queen  and  Princess 
of  the  same."  The  land  thus  taken  into  possession  was  Roanoke 
Island,  about  7  leagues  distant  from  the  anchorage. 

After  a  stay  of  nearly  two  months,  the  expedition  returned  to 
England,  carrying  two  of  the  natives,  Manteo  and  Wanchese.  The 
disposition  of  the  natives  toward  the  Englishmen  was  friendly,  and 
though  no  reason  is  given  for  carrying  the  two  Indians  to  England, 
it  was  probably  understood  that  a  second  expedition  would  soon 
follow,  and  that  they  could  return  to  their  own  country  at  an  early 
day.  There  was  good  pohcy  in  impressing  them,  as  prominent  men 
of  their  own  land,  with  the  greatness  of  England.  Manteo  and  Wan- 
chese returned  in  another  expedition  Uti  Roanoke,  the  former  to 
become  Lord  of  Roanoke,  the  latter  to  become  the  determined  enemy 
of  the  English. 

A  second  expedition,  under  Sir  Richard  Greenville,  the  cousin  of 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  sailed  from  England  on  the  9th  of  April,  1585. 
This  expedition  consisted  of  seven  vessels,  and  arrived  at  Roanoke 
during  the  following  July.  In  August  following  Sir  Richard  Green- 
ville returned  to  England,  after  leaving  a  colony  on  Roanoke  Island 
under  Master  Ralf  Lane. 

Lane  explored  the  surrounding  country,  making  many  valuable 
discoveries,  and  finally,  despairing  of  aid  expected,  embarked,  with 
his  entire  colony,  on  the  fleet  of  Sir  Francis  Drake,  which  stopped  at 
Roanoke,  and  sailed  for  England. 

The  departure  of  Lane's  colony  left  no  Enghshmen  on  the  shores 
of  North  America. 

Chapter  IL 

In  less  than  one  month  from  the  departure  of  Lane  Sir  Richard 
Greenville  arrived  at  Roanoke  with  supplies,  and  after  a  fruitless 
search  for  the  colonists,  he  left  15  men  on  the  island  to  hold  possession 
of  the  country.  After  the  departure  of  Greenville  these  men  were 
seen  no  more  by  Englishmen. 

Not  discouraged  by  repeated  failures.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  fitted  out 
another  expedition  under  John  White  as  governor,  who,  with  others 
of  the  colonists,  were  incorporated  as  "The  Governor  and  Assistants 
of  the  City  of  Raleigh  in  Virginia."  The  city  of  Raleigh  was  designed 
to  be  built  on  the  shores  of  Chesapeake  Bay. 

Gov.  White  was  instructed  to  call  at  Roanoke  Island  to  ascertain 
the  fate  of  the  15  men  left  there  by  Sir  Richard  Greenville.  The 
commanders  of  the  sliips  seemed  to  have  been  independent  of  the 
authority  of  Gov.  White,  and  fuUy  aware  that  a  voyage  to  Chesapeake 
Bay  would  delay  their  ex]3ected  cruise  in  the  West  Indies,  refused  to 
transport  the  colony  to  its  destination,  and  thus  compelled  Gov. 
White  to  stop  at  Roanoke  Island.  The  vessels  departed  soon  after 
in  search  of  Spanish  prizes. 

After  reciting  many  incidents,  Gov.  White  relates  that  "on  the 
13th  of  August,  our  savage  Manteo,  by  the  commandment  of  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh,  was  christened  in  Roanoke  and  called  Lord  thereof, 
and  of  Dasamonguepeuk,  in  reward  of  his  faitliful  service."  "The 
18th,  Eleanor,  daughter  of  Gov.  White  and  wife  to  Ananias  Dare,  one 
of  the  colonists,  was  dehvered  of  a  daughter  in  Roanoke,  and  the 


Iin)IANS   OP    NORTH   CAROLnSTA.  43 

same  was  christened  there  the  Sunday  following,  and  because  this 
child  was  the  first  Christian  born  in  Virginia,  she  was  named  Virginia." 

Gov.  White  relates  that  a  violent  tempest  arose  on  the  2l3t  of 
August,  which  lasted  for  six  days  and  threatened  the  destruction  of 
one  of  the  vessels  then  ready  to  sail  for  England.  Gov.  White  was 
sent  back  to  England  by  the  planters,  to  act  there  as  factor  for  the 
colony. 

The  Croatan  Indians,  who  visited  Roanoke  Island,  invited  the 
colonists  to  reside  with  them,  and  the  latter,  prior  to  the  dej)arture 
of  the  governor,  expressed  to  him  their  intention  to  accept  the  invi- 
tation and  to  remove  50  miles  "up  into  the  main."  It  was  under- 
stood that  if  they  went  to  Groatoan  they  were  to  carve  the  word 
Croatoan  on  the  bark  of  a  tree  in  some  conspicuous  place,  that  the 
governor  might  know  where  to  find  them  on  his  return.  It  was  fur- 
ther understood  that  if  they  left  the  island  in  distress  they  were  to 
carve  the  Christian  cross  above  the  word  Croatoan. 

On  the  27th  of  August,  White  sailed  for  England,  and  the  colonists 
were  seen  no  more  by  white  men. 

Chapter  III, 

On  his  arrival  in  England,  Gov.  White  found  all  things  in  commo- 
tion. The  long- threatened  storm  of  war  had  burst  upon  England, 
and  the  services  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  others  who  were  interested 
in  the  distant  colony  were  enhsted  in  the  national  defense.  It  was  a 
critical  period  of  British  history.  Queen  Elizabeth  rehed  upon  the 
skill  of  Raleigh,  under  whose  guidance  the  Armada  was  defeated,  and 
"liberty  of  person  and  liberty  of  conscience  were  once  more  free." 

On  the  22d  of  April,  1588,  Gov.  White,  by  aid  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
sailed  from  England  with  two  barques  to  visit  the  colony  at  Roanoke. 
These  vessels,  disabled  in  fighting  ships  encountered  during  the 
voyage,  were  compelled  to  return  to  England.  No  further  attempt 
to  reach  the  colony  was  made  tiU  the  20th  of  ?\[arch,  1590,  when 
White  again  sailed  for  Virginia  with  three  vessels.  Nearly  six 
months  passed  before  the  vessels  reached  Roanoke  in  the  following 
August : 

In  his  account  of  this  voyage,  as  published  by  Hakluyt,  Gov.  White 
says  that — 

on  the  IStli  of  August,  towards  evening,  we  came  to  anchor  at  Hattorask  in  36J°,  in 
five  fathoms  water  three  leagues  from  the  shore.  At  our  first  coming  to  anchor  on  this 
shore  we  saw  a  great  smoke  rise  in  the  Isle  Roanoke,  near  the  place  where  I  left  our 
colony  in  the  year  1587,  which  smoke  put  us  in  good  hope  that  some  of  the  colony 
were  there  expecting  our  return  out  of  England.  The  16th  and  next  morning  our 
two  boats  went  ashore,  and  Captain  Cooke  and  Captain  Spicer  and  their  company 
with  me,  with  intent  to  pass  to  the  place  at  Roanoke  where  our  countrymen  were 
left.  At  our  putting  from  the  ship  we  commanded  our  maater  gunner  to  make  ready 
two  minions  and  a  falcon,  well  loaded,  and  to  shoot  them  off  with  reasonable  space 
between  every  shot,  to  the  end  that  their  reports  might  be  heard  to  the  place  where 
we  hoped  to  find  some  of  our  people. 

Omitting  some  unimportant  details,  we  extract  from  White's  nar- 
rative the  following: 

Our  boats  and  all  things  filled  again,  we  put  off  from  Hattorask,  being  the  number 
of  nineteen  persons  in  both  boats;  but  before  we  could  get  to  the  place  where  our 
planters  were  left  it  was  so  exceeding  dark  that  we  overshot  the  place  a  quarter  of  a 
mile,  when  we  espied  towards  the  north  end  of  the  island  (Roanoke)  the  light  of  a 


44  INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

great  fire  througli  the  woods,  to  wliicli  we  presently  rowed.  When  we  came  right 
over  against  it,  we  let  fall  our  grapnel  near  the  shore  and  sounded  with  a  trumpet  a 
call,  and  afterwards  many  familiar  tunes  and  songs  and  called  to  them  friendly;  but 
we  had  no  answer;  we  therefore  landed  at  daybreak,  and  coming  to  the  fire  we  found 
the  grass  and  sundry  rotten  trees  burning  about  the  place.  From  hence  we  went 
through  the  woods  to  that  part  of  the  island  directly  over  against  Dasamonguepeuk, 
and  from  thence  we  returned  by  the  water  side  round  about  the  north  point  of  the  island 
untU  we  came  to  the  place  where  I  left  our  colony  in  the  year  1587.  In  all  this  way 
we  saw  in  the  sand  the  print  of  the  savage's  feet  of  two  or  three  sorts  trodden  in  the 
night,  and  as  we  entered  up  the  sandy  bank,  upon  a  tree  in  the  very  brow  thereof, 
were  curiously  carved  these  fair  Roman  letters,  C.  R.  O.,  which  letters  presently  we 
knew  to  signify  the  place  where  I  should  find  the  planters  seated,  according  to  a  secret 
token  agreed  upon  between  them  and  me  at  my  last  departure  from  them,  which  was  that 
in  any  way  they  should  not  fail  to  write  or  carve,  on  the  trees  or  posts  of  the  doors,  the 
name  of  the  place  where  they  should  be  seated;  for  at  my  coming  away  they  were 
prepared  to  remove  from  Roanoke  fifty  miles  into  the  main.  Therefore  at  my  de- 
parture from  them  in  Aug.,  1587,  I  willed  them  that  if  tliey  should  happen  to  be  dis- 
tressed in  any  of  those  places  that  they  should  carve  over  the  letters  or  name  a  cross  f 
in  this  form,  but  we  found  no  such  sign  of  distress.  And  having  well  considered  of 
this  we  passed  through  the  place  where  they  were  left  in  sundry  houses,  but  we  found 
the  houses  taken  down  and  the  place  very  strongly  enclosed  with  a  high  palisade  of 
great  trees  with  curtains  and  flankers,  very  fortlike,  and  one  of  the  chief  trees  or  posts 
at  the  right  side  of  the  entrance  had  the  bark  taken  off,  and  five  feet  from  the  ground, 
in  fair  capital  letters,  was  graven  "Croatoan,"  without  any  cross  or  sign  of  distress. 
This  done,  we  entered  into  the  palisado,  where  we  found  many  bars  of  iron,  two  pigs 
of  lead,  four  iron  fowlers,  iron  locker,  shot,  and  such  like  heavy  things  thrown  here 
and  there  almost  overgrown  with  grass  and  weeds.  *  *  *  But  although  it  grieved 
me  much  to  see  such  spoil  of  my  goods,  yet  on  the  other  side  I  greatly  joyed  that  I 
had  safely  found  a  certain  token  of  their  being  at  Croatoan,  which  is  the  place  where 
Manteo  was  born,  and  the  savages  oftfte  island  our  friends. 

Foul  weather  compelled  Gov.  White  to  return  to  the  fleet,  and  on 
the  following  day  with  a  favorable  wind  they  prepared  to  sail  to 
Croatan,  but  owing  to  the  loss  of  all  their  anchors  save  one  and  the 
approaching  foul  weather  it  was  determined  to  sail  to  St.  John  or 
some  other  island  southward  for  fresh  water,  and  after  obtaining 
victuals  and  necessaries  in  the  West  Indies  and  spending  the  winter 
there  to  return  in  the  spring  to  seek  the  colonists  at  Croatan.  One 
of  the  vessels  being  in  a  leaky  condition  was  compelled  to  sail  for 
England.  The  other  vessels  after  cruising  for  a  while  in  search  of 
Spanish  prizes  finally  sailed  for  England  and  arrived  at  Plymouth 
on  the  24th  day  of  October,  1590. 

From  the  story  of  Gov.  White  it  is  evident  that  Croatoan  was  sit- 
ated  southward  from  Roanoke  Island  and  upon  the  coast,  for  the 
voyagers  attempted  to  sail  to  it  upon  the  open  sea.  It  is  probable 
that  the  island  mentioned  was  one  of  the  long  islands  curtaining  the 
coast  and  embraced  within  the  present  county  of  Carteret.  It  is  so 
located  on  one  of  the  oldest  maps,  bearing  date  of  1666.  On  a  map 
pubUshed  by  order  of  the  Lords  Proprietors  in  1671  the  peninsula 
embracing  the  present  county  of  Dare  is  called  Croatan.  Lawson's 
map  of  the  year  1709  also  locates  Croatan  in  the  same  region.  The 
sound  immediately  west  of  Roanoke  Island  still  bears  the  name  of 
Croatan.  The  name  of  the  island  belonging  to  the  tribe  was  prob- 
ably Croatoan,  while  the  name  of  the  tribe  inhabiting  it  may  have 
been  Croatan.  The  name  Croatan  was  given  to  the  tribe  by  the 
Enghsh  from  the  name  of  a  locahty  within  their  territory.  That  part 
of  their  territory  lying  west  of  Roanoke  Island  was  called  Dasa- 
monguepeuk by  some  of  the  natives.  Manteo,  by  order  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  was  made  "Lord  of  Roanoke  and  Dasamonguepeuk,"  the 
first  instance  of  a  title  of  nobihty  being  conferred  on  an  American. 


IIJroiANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  "45 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  territory  now  embraced  within  the 
counties  of  Hyde,  Tyrrell,  and  Dare  was  claimed  and  occupied  by 
the  friendly  tribe  of  Manteo  at  one  time,  and  was  designated  as 
Croatan,  and  at  another  time  occupied  by  a  different  tribe  of 
hostile  Indians,  who  called  it  Dasamonquepeuk.  Croatoan,  the  prin- 
cipal seat  of  ]\Ianteo  and  his  tribe,  lay  to  the  southward.  The  name 
carved  upon  the  tree  according  to  a  secret  understanding  between 
Gov.  White  and  the  planters  prior  to  the  departure  of  the  former, 
was  Croatoan,  and  was  understood  by  him  to  mean  an  island  south- 
ward from  Roanoke,  ''for  there,"  he  relates,  ''Manteo  was  born  and 
the  savages  of  the  island  our  friends." 

For  nearly  300  years  after  the  departure  of  White  no  trace  of  the 
lost  colony  had  been  discovered,  with  the  exception  of  the  following 
related  by  Lawson,  an  early  historian,  who  wrote  in  1714:  "The 
Hatteras  Indians  who  lived  on  Roanoke  Island,  or  much' frequented  it, 
tell  us  that  several  of  their  ancestors  were  white  people  and  could  talk 
in  a  book,  as  we  do;  the  truth  of  which  is  confirmed  by  gray  eyes 
being  frequently  found  amongst  these  Indians,  and  no  others.  They 
value  themselves  extremely  for  their  affinity  to  the  English,  and  are 
ready  to  do  them  aU  friendly  offices." 

Purchas  tells  us  that  several  subsequent  voyages  were  made  at  the 
expense  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  to  discover  his  lost  countrymen,  but 
without  success.  Commanders  of  ships  in  those  days  were  more 
anxious  to  capture  Spanish  vessels  than  to  find  lost  Englishmen,  and 
it  is  doubtful  if  a  single  ship  touched  at  Croatan  or  Roanoke  to  make 
inquiries  after  the  departure  of  White  in  1590. 

Chapter  IV. 

Who  were  the  Croatans?  The  term  Croatan  or  Croatoan  was 
apphed  by  the  Enghsh  to  the  friendly  tribe  of  Manteo  whose  chief 
abode  was  on  an  island  on  the  coast  southward  from  Roanoke.  The 
name  Croatan  seems  to  indicate  a  locahty  in  the  territory  claimed 
by  Manteo  and  his  tribe.  Dr.  Hawks  speaks  of  this  tribe  as  Hatteras 
Indians,  and  from  an  incident  to  be  related  hereafter  this  title  seems 
to  have  been  recognized  by  these  Indians.  From  the  first  appearance 
of  Amadas  and  Barlowe  to  the  departure  of  Gov.  White,  in  1587 
relations  of  the  most  friendly  character  are  known  to  have  existed 
between  this  tribe  and  the  English  colonists.  Their  chief,  Manteo, 
in  reward  of  his  faithful  services  to  the  English,  was,  by  command 
of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  baptized  as  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England 
and  was  made  Lord  of  Roanoke  and  of  Dasamonguepeuk.  For 
reasons  given  in  the  succeeding  pages  we  beUeve  the  term  Roanoke, 
then  apphed  to  the  island,  was  afterwards  given  to  a  large  extent  of 
territory  contiguous  to  Pamhco  Sound,  in  fact  to  aU  the  territory 
claimed  by  Manteo.  The  tribes  at  that  early  day  seemed  to  have 
had  no  settled  boundaries  to  the  territories  claimed  by  them  and 
occupied  the  land  adjacent  to  their  principal  seats,  alternately  with 
other  tribes,  as  hunting  grounds. 

The  history  of  this  tribe,  as  connected  with  the  early  attempts  to 
colonize  our  eastern  coast,  is  of  pecuHar  interest  and  is  worthy  of 
extended  notice. 


46*  INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Harriot,  who  accompanied  Lane's  expedition  to  Virginia,  in  de- 
scribing the  Indians  on  our  coast,  says: 

They  are  a  people  clothed  with  loose  mantles  made  of  deerskins  and  aprons  of  the 
same  around  their  middles,  all  else  naked,  of  such  a  difference  of  stature  as  we  of 
England,  having  no  edge  tools  or  weapons  of  iron  or  steel  to  offend  us  withal,  neither 
know  they  how  to  make  any.  *  *  *  The  language  of  every  government  is  different 
from  any  other,  and  the  farther  they  are  distant,  the  greater  is  the  difference.  *  *  * 
They  believe  that  there  are  many  gods,  which  they  call  Mantoac,  but  of  different  sorts 
and  degrees,  one  only  chief  and  great  God  which  has  been  from  all  eternity.  *  *  * 
They  also  believe  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  that  after  this  life  as  soon  as  the  soul  is 
departed  from  the  body  according  to  the  works  it  has  done,  it  is  either  carried  to  heaven, 
the  habitable  of  the  gods,  there  to  enjoy  perpetual  bliss  and  happiness,  or  else  to  a 
great  pit  or  hole,  which  they  think  to  be  in  the  farther  part  of  the  world  toward  the 
sunset,  there  to  burn  continually,  the  place  they  call  Popogusso. 

In  reading  this  account  of  the  rehgion  of  the  natives  we  conckide 
that  at  some  period  they  had  communication  with  more  civihzed 
races  from  the  East  who  impressed  upon  them  some  idea  of  faith 
more  exalted  than  that  common  among  savages.  Some  may  be 
ready  to  accept  the  absurdities  of  monkish  fancy  and  readily  believe 
them  to  be  descendants  of  the  "lost  tribes"  who  had  retained  some- 
thing of  ancient  Jewish  faith.  The  difference  in  color,  language,  and 
other  characteristics  renders  it  difficult  to  accept  such  a  theory.  The 
knowledge  of  this  western  land  is  as  old  as  the  time  of  Plato  and 
Solon,  who  mention  an  island  in  the  West  called  Atlantis  "and  a 
great  continent  which  lay  beyond  it."  The  Persians  established  a 
colony  in  the  West  Indies  a  thousand  years  ago,  which,  by  "abstain- 
ing from  all  admixture  with  the  black  aborigines,  differs  but  Httle 
from  their  progenitors  in  the  parent  country."  The  Welsh  colonized 
the  Carolina  coast  in  the  twelfth  century.  In  1660  Rev.  Morgan 
Jones,  in  traveling  in  the  Tuscarora  country,  was  captured  by  the 
Doegs,  a  branch  of  that  tribe  who  spoke  Welsh.  He  describes  them 
as  settled  upon  Pontigo  River  near  Cape  Atross.  This  statement 
seems  to  confu'm  the  Welsh  chronicle  which  describes  Madoc's  colony. 
Long  before  the  discovery  of  Columbus  the  Basques  sent  fishing 
vessels  to  the  northern  part  of  America.  The  Norse  records  describe 
voyages  to  the  American  coast,  reciting  facts  and  dates  which  are 
confirmed  by  Irish  and  Arabic  chronicles,  and  also  by  the  inscription 
on  Womans  Island  on  our  northern  coast  bearmg  date  of  April  25, 
1135.  If  we  discredit  the  accounts  of  these  early  voyages  we  may 
discredit  anything  of  ancient  date  recorded  in  history.  The  Sanscrit 
root  syllable  ay  and  the  Latin  root  ok,  both  meaning  water,  are 
detected  in  the  names  of  scores  of  rivers  and  bays  on  our  Atlantic 
coast  facing  Europe,  where  vessels  driven  by  the  northeast  trade 
winds,  would  probably  reach  our  shores. 

We  cite  these  facts  in  support  of  the  theory  that  colonies  were  in 
past  times  located  on  our  coast  and  in  course  of  time  were  neglected 
and  forgotten  by  the  parent  countries  and  became  absorbed  by  native 
tribes.  If  this  theory  is  accepted  it  will  account  for  traditions  of 
wrecked  vessels  prevalent  among  the  Indians  described  by  Hariot, 
as  well  as  for  their  rehgious  notions  so  far  above  those  commonly 
found  among  savages.  Prescott,  as  quoted  by  Dr.  Hawks,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  Indians  found  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of  North  America,  says: 

They  had  attained  to  the  sublime  conception  of  one  Great  Spirit,  the  creator  of  the 
universe,  who,  immaterial  in  his  own  nature,  was  not  to  be  dishonored  by  an  attempt 
at  visible  representation,  and  who,  pervading  all  space,  was  not  to  be  circumscribed 
within  the  walls  of  a  temple. 


INDIANS   OF    NOETH   CAEOLINA.  47 

What  may  have  been  the  origin  of  the  tribe,  known  to  us  through 
the  Enghsh  colonists  as  Croatan,  can  only  be  a  matter  of  conjecture. 
They  had  traditions  of  vessels  wrecked  in  past  times,  and  they  affirmed 
that  iron  implements  found  among  them  were  obtained  from  such 
wrecks.  Childi-en  with  auburn  hair  and  blue  eyes  were  noticed 
among  them,  which  impressed  the  belief  that  they  had  had  communi- 
cation with  white  people.  From  the  appearance  of  Amidas  and 
Barlowe  in  1584  to  the  departure  of  Gov.  White  in  1587,  their  de- 
meanor toward  the  whites  was  friendly.  The  treatment  received 
by  Manteo  during  his  visit  to  England  may  have  enhanced  the  good 
feeling  toward  the  English.     What  became  of  them? 

Chapter  V. 

After  the  departure  of  Gov.  White  from  the  coast  of  Virginia  in 
1590  five  expeditions  were  fitted  out  at  the  expense  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  for  the  relief  of  his  distressed  countrymen  at  Roanoke.  These 
expeditions  returned  with  no  tidings  of  the  planters  and  it  became 
the  settled  conviction  of  those  mterested  in  the  colony  that  it  per- 
ished from  starvation  or  savage  cruelty. 

After  the  settlement  at  Jamestown  in  1607,  Capt.  John  Smith  sent 
a  hardy  woodsman  to  the  Chowanoke  Indians,  who  lived  near  the 
head  oi  Albemarle  Sound,  under  the  pretense  of  sending  presents  to 
their  king,  but  his  object  was  to  make  inquiries  concerning  the  Roa- 
noke colony.  Capt.  Smith  sent  two  other  men  to  the  Mangoaks, 
on  the  river  Nottoway,  but  they  returned  as  the  other  had  done, 
without  any  information  except  that  the  white  people  were  all  dead. 
(Vide  Wilhamson's  His.  of  N.  C,  vol.  1,  p.  73.) 

It  is  evident  from  the  story  of  Gov.  White,  as  given  on  a  preceding 
page,  that  the  colonists  went  southward  along  the  coast  to  Croatoan 
Island,  now  a  part  of  Carteret  County,  in  North  Carolina,  and  distant 
about  100  miles  in  a  direct  Hne  from  Albemarle  Sound.  The  Man- 
goacks  were  seated  northwest  from  Albemarle  and  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  messengers  returned  without  definite  information.  The 
statement  of  Lawson  as  to  the  tradition  of  the  Hatteras  Indians 
may  throw  some  Ught  on  the  fate  of  the  EngUsh  colonists,  but  it  is 
a  matter  of  surprise  to  us  at  this  time  that  a  historian  would  not 
pursue  the  investigation  of  that  tradition  far  enough  to  ascertain 
who  those  ancestors  were  who  could  'Halk  in  a  book."  Europeans 
had  been  upon  the  coast  even  before  the  arrival  of  Amidas  and 
Barlowe  in  1584.  Persons  were  noticed  among  the  natives  with 
auburn  and  chestnut  colored  hair,  and  traditions  existed  concern- 
ing wrecked  vessels.  Iron  implements  were  found  among  the 
Croatan  Indians  made  of  spikes  and  nails  obtained  from  a  wreck 
on  their  coast,  which  occurred  about  20  years  before  the  arrival  of 
the  English  colony.  A  previous  wreck  in  1558  was  mentioned;  some 
of  the  crew  were  saved  and  were  supposed  to  have  been  lost  in  their 
attempt  to  leave  in  the  frail  boats  of  the  natives,  Lawson  wrote  in 
1714,  127  years  after  the  colonists  were  last  seen  on  Roanoke  Island. 
Sixty-nine  years  after  the  settlement  on  that  island  and  sixty  years 
before  the  event  related  by  Lawson,  Roanoke  was  visited  by  an 
Englishman,  Francis  Yeardly,  who,  in  a  letter  to  John  Farrar,  Esq., 


48  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

dated  May  8,  1654,  relates  a  visit  made  to  Roanoke  Island  by  himself 
and  others — 

where  or  thereabouts  they  found  the  great  commander  of  these  parts  with  his  Indians 
ahunting,  who  received  them  civilly,  and  showed  the  ruins  of  Sir  M^alter  Raleigh's 
fort,  from  which  I  received  a  sure  token  of  their  being  there.  After  some  days  spent 
to  and  fro  in  the  country,  the  young  man,  the  interpreter,  prevailed  with  the  great 
man  and  his  war  captains  to  come  in  and  make  peace  with  the  English,  which  they 
willingly  condescended  unto.     (Vide  Hawks,  His.  N.  C,  vol.  2,  p.  17.) 

So  that  at  that  early  day  the  island  was  occupied  by  Indians  who 
knew  nothing  of  the  lost  Englishmen  and  who  pointed  out  Raleigh's 
fort  as  an  object  of  curiosity,  without  any  tradition  as  to  the  fate  of 
those  who  built  it. 

Rev.  Mr.  Blair,  who  was  a  missionary  to  the  settlements  on  Pamlico 
Sound,  after  describing  the  difficulties  of  his  situation,  writes  to  his 
patron,  Lord  Weymouth,  as  follows: 

I  think  it  likewise  reasonable  to  give  you  an  accoimt  of  a  great  nation  of  Indians, 
who  live  in  that  government,  computed  to  be  no  less  than  100,000,  many  of  which  live 
among  the  English,  and  all,  as  far  as  I  can  understand,  a  very  civilized  people. 

This  letter  was  written  in  1703.  Mr.  Blair  speaks  of  a  desert  of 
50  miles  in  extent  to  be  crossed  in  reaching  the  place.  At  the  time  in 
which  he  writes  the  descendants  of  the  missing  colonists  must  have 
held  only  a  tradition  respecting  the  events  attendmg  the  attempt  at 
colonization  on  Roanoke  Island.  The  number  mentioned  by  Mr. 
Blair  is  evidently  an  exaggeration  and  the  location  of  the  tribe  is 
indefinite.  There  is  reason  to  beUeve  that  descendants  of  the  colonists 
were  living  in  a  region  of  country  southwest  of  Pamhco  at  the  time 
in  which  he  writes  and  that  they  emigrated  westward  toward  the 
interior,  where  a  large  body  of  Croatan  Indians  and  descendants  of 
the  lost  colonists  had  previously  located.  It  is  probable  that  the 
civilized  Indians  mentioned  were  a  portion  of  the  Croatan  tribe,  as 
there  was  no  other  tribe  to  which  the  reference  could  apply.  At  that 
early  day  very  little  was  known  of  the  region  to  southwest  of  Pamhco 
Somid,  and  the  missionary  may  have  traveled  100  miles  in  reaching 
the  place  of  his  labor,  which  seemed  to  be  at  a  great  distance  from 
other  precincts  visited  by  him. 

At  the  time  in  which  he  writes  (1703)  there  were  no  settlements 
of  white  men  known  to  exist  beyond  the  region  around  Pamlico 
Sound.  Subsequent  to  that  date  white  emigrants  penetrated  the 
wilderness,  and  in  1729  there  was  a  settlement  made  on  Hearts 
Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Cape  Fear,  and  near  the  site  of  the  present 
town  of  FayetteviUe.  Scotchmen  arrived  in  what  is  now  Richmond 
County  in  North  Carolina  as  early  as  1730.  French  Huguenots  in 
large  numbers  emigrated  to  South  Carolina  after  the  revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  some  of  them  had  penetrated  as  far  north  as 
the  present  northern  boundary  of  that  State  in  the  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

At  the  coming  of  white  settlers  there  was  found  located  on  the 
waters  of  Lumber  River  a  large  tribe  of  Indians,  speaJcing  English, 
tilling  the  soil,  owning  slaves,  and  practicing  many  of  the  arts  of 
civilized  Ufe.  They  occupied  the  country  as  far  west  as  the  Pee  Dee, 
but  their  principal  seat  was  on  the  Lumber,  extending  along  that 
river  for  20  miles.  They  held  their  lands  in  common,  and  land  titles 
only  became  known  on  the  approach  of  white  men.  The  first  grant 
of  land  to  any  of  this   tribe  of  which  there  is  written  evidence  in 


INDIANS   OF   NOETH   CAROLINA.  49 

existence  was  made  by  King  George  II  in  1732  to  Henry  Berry  and 
James  Lowrie,  two  leading  men  of  the  tribe,  and  was  located  on  the 
Lowi'ie  Swamp,  east  of  Lumber  River  in  present  county  of  Robeson, 
in  North  Carolina.  A  subsequent  grant  was  made  to  James  Lowrie 
in  1738.  According  to  tradition,  there  were  deeds  of  land  of  older 
date,  described  as  "Wliite"  deeds  and  "Smith"  deeds,  but  no  trace 
of  their  existence  can  be  found  at  this  date. 

Many  of  these  people  at  a  later  period  purchased  their  lands  from 
persons  who  obtained  large  patents  from  the  king. 

Occasional  bands  of  immigrants  arrived  on  the  Lumber  River 
from  ancient  settlements  toward  the  east,  while  others  moved 
west  toward  the  Pee  Dee,  Catawba  and  French  Broad  Rivers. 
These  people  were  hospitable,  and  friendly  relations  were  estab- 
lished between  them  and  their  white  neighbors.  Subsequent  to  the 
coming  of  white  settlers  a  portion  of  the  tribe  went  north  toward 
the  Great  Lakes  and  some  of  their  descendants  can  be  found  at  this 
time  in  Canada,  west  of  Lake  Ontario.  Another  emigration  occurred 
at  a  later  date  and  the  emigrants  became  incorporated  ^vith  a  tribe 
then  located  near  Lake  Michigan.  Many  famihes,  described  as 
white  people,  emigrated  toward  the  Allegheny  ^tlountains  and  there 
are  many  famihes  in  western  North  Carolina  at  this  time,  who  are 
claimed  by  the  tribe  in  Robeson  County,  as  descendants  of  the  lost 
Enghsh  colonists,  who  had  preserved  their  purity  of  blood  to  that 
degree  that  they  could  not  be  distinguished  from  white  people. 
These  Indians  built  great  roads  connecting  the  distant  settlements 
with  their  principal  seat  on  the  Lumbee,  as  the  Lumber  River  was 
then  called.  One  of  the  great  roads  constructed  by  them  can  be 
traced  from  a  point  on  Lumber  River  for  20  miles  to  an  old  settle- 
ment near  the  mouth  of  Hearts  Creek,  now  Cross  Creek.  Another 
great  highway  still  bearing  the  name  of  the  "Lowiie  Road"  and  used 
at  this  day  as  a  pubhc  road,  extends  from  the  town  of  Fayetteville, 
through  Cumberland  and  Robeson  Counties,  in  a  southwest  direction 
toward  an  ancient  Croatan  settlement  on  the  Pee  Dee. 

James  Lowrie,  previously  mentioned  as  one  of  the  grantees  in  the 
deed  made  by  George  the  Second,  and  recognized  as  a  chief  man  of 
his  tribe,  is  described  as  an  Indian  who  married  Priscilla  Berry,  a 
sister  of  Henry  Berry,  the  other  grantee  mentioned.  James  Lowrie 
was  a  descendant  of  James  Lowrie,  of  Chesapeake,  who  married  a 
Croatan  woman  in  Virginia  (as  eastern  North  Carolina  is  still  desig- 
nated by  the  tribe)  and  became  the  progenitor  of  all  the  Lowries 
belonging  to  this  tribe.  According  to  the  prevalent  tradition  respect- 
ing this  family,  the  men  were  intellectual  and  ambitious,  and,  as  a 
chronicler  of  the  tribe  described  them,  became  "leaders  among  men." 
Many  persons  distinguished  in  the  annals  of  North  Carolina  are 
claimed  as  descended  from  the  original  James  Lowrie,  of  Chesapeake. 
"You  ^vill  find  the  name  of  James  Lowrie,"  remarked  the  chronicler, 
"wherever  you  find  a  Lowrie  family." 

Henry  Berry,  the  grantee  previously  mentioned,  was  a  lineal 
descendant  of  the  Enghsh  colonist,  Henry  Berry,  who  was  left  on 
Roanoke  Island  in  1587.     (See  hst  of  names  of  lost  colony.) 

Many  of  this  tribe  served  in  the  Continental  Army  during  the 
Revolutionary  War  and  enjoyed  pensions  within  the  memory  of 
persons  yet  living.     A  considerable  number  served  during  the  War 

75321°— S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 4 


50  '    INDIANS   OP   NORTH   CAEOLINA. 

of  1812,  some  of  whom  received  pensions  within  the  recollection  of 
the  writer.  From  the  close  of  the  Revolution  to  the  year  1835  they 
exercised  the  elective  franchise  equally  with  white  men,  performed 
militia  duties,  encouraged  schools  and  built  churches,  owned  slaves, 
and  lived  in  comfortable  circumstances.  By  an  ordinance  of  the 
North  Carolina  State  convention  of  1835,  the  elective  franchise  was 
denied  to  all  "free  persons  of  color."  To  effect  a  political  purpose, 
it  was  contended  that  these  citizens  were  "free  persons  of  color," 
and  afterwards  they  were  debarred  from  voting  till  the  year  1868, 
when  a  new  constitution  was  adopted.  After  the  adoption  of  the 
new  State  constitution,  they  were  allowed  the  benefit  of  public 
schools,  but  having  been  classed  for  a  long  period  as  "free  persons 
of  color,"  they  were  compelled  to  patronize  schools  provided  for  the 
negro  race.  Owing  to  a  bitter  prejudice  against  negroes,  but  few 
availed  themselves  of  the  privilege,  the  greater  part  preferring  that 
their  children  should  grow  up  in  ignorance,  rather  than  that  they 
should  be  forced  to  association  with  a  race  which  they  hold  in  utter 
contempt.  Separate  schools  have  since  been  provided  for  their  race 
by  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina^  which,  by  special  act,  recognized 
them  as  Croatan  Indians. 

Chapter  VI. 

During  the  late  war  between  the  States  an  incident  occurred  which 
caused  the  writer  to  investigate  the  traditions  of  this  tribe.  Three 
young  men  of  the  Lowrie  family  were  drafted,  according  to  military 
law,  to  work  on  the  fortifications  at  Fort  Fisher,  in  eastern  North 
Carolina,  and  while  on  the  road  to  the  nearest  depot  in  Robeson 
County  they  were  killed,  it  is  supposed,  by  a  white  man  who  had  them 
in  custody.  An  inquest  was  held,  and  at  its  conclusion,  an  old 
Indian  named  George  Lowrie  addressed  the  people  assembled  in 
substance  as  follows : 

We  have  always  been  the  friends  of  white  men.  We  were  a  free  people  long  before 
the  white  men  came  to  our  land.  Our  tribe  was  always  free.  They  lived  in  Roanoke 
in  Virginia.  When  the  English  came  to  Roanoke,  our  tribe  treated  them  kindly. 
One  of  our  tribe  went  to  England  in  an  English  ship  and  saw  that  great  country. 
When  English  people  landed  in  Roanoke  we  were  friendly,  for  our  tribe  was  always 
friendly  to  white  men.  We  took  the  English  to  live  with  us.  There  is  the  white 
man's  talood  in  these  veins  as  well  as  that  of  the  Indian.  In  order  to  be  great  like  the 
English,  we  took  the  white  man's  language  and  religion,  for  our  people  were  told  they 
would  prosper  if  they  would  take  white  men's  laws.  In  the  wars  between  white  men 
and  Indians  we  always  fought  on  the  side  of  white  men.  We  moved  to  this  land  and 
fought  for  liberty  for  white  men,  yet  white  men  have  treated  us  as  negroes.  Here 
are  our  young  men  shot  down  by  a  white  man  and  we  get  no  justice,  and  that  in  a 
land  where  our  people  were  always  free. 

The  incident  above  related  occurred  in  the  latter  part  of  1864, 
and  owing  to  the  troubled  state  of  the  country  at  that  time  and  for 
several  years  afterwards,  no  investigation  could  be  made  till  the  year 
1875,  when  the  writer  became  a  citizen  and  had  opportunity  of  inter- 
viewing leading  persons  of  the  tribe. 

After  the  year  1835  these  Indians,  who  murmured  greatly  at  the 
injustice  done  them  in  being  classed  as  "mulattoes"  or  "free  persons 
of  color,"  became  suspicious  of  white  men,  and  at  first  we  found 
difliculty  in  eliciting  any  facts  relating  to  their  past  history.  After 
years  of  patient  investigation,  gathering  here  and  there,  we  present 
the  following  summary  of  traditions  prevalent  among  them; 


INDIANS    OF    NOETH    CAEOLINA.  51 

The  tribe  once  lived  in  Roanoke  in  Virginia,  as  they  persist  in 
calling  eastern  North  CaroUna.  The  name  Roanoke  is  apphed  to 
the  country  around  Pamhco  Sound,  embracing  Hyde,  Tyrell,  and 
Dare  Counties  on  the  north,  with  the  series  of  islands  as  far  south 
as  Carteret  County  and  embracing  that  county  with  Craven  and 
Jones.  Croatoan  or  Croatan  was  a  locality  far  to  the  south,  off 
the  coast  of  Carteret,  and  was  the  principal  seat  of  the  tribe. 
Their  leading  man  was  made  Lord  of  Roanoke.  The  name  Manteo 
they  do  not  recognize,  but  are  famihar  with  Mayno,  a  name  very 
common  among  them  and  representing  a  very  quiet,  law-abiding 
people. 

At  an  early  period  after  the  Enghsh  colony  became  incorpor- 
ated with  the  tribe,  they  began  to  emigrate  westward.  The  first 
settlement  made  was  probably  in  what  is  now  Sampson  County  on 
several  small  rivers,  tributary  to  Black  River.  A  portion  located 
on  the  Cape  Fear,  near  a  place  now  bearing  the  name  of  "Indian 
Wells"  and  at  Hearts  Creek  in  Cumberland  County,  now  Fay- 
etteville.  It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  at  what  date  the  tribe  lo- 
cated in  Robeson,  but  it  is  probable  that  they  have  resided  there 
for  200  3^ears.  According  to  their  universal  tradition  they  were 
located  there  long  before  the  troubles  with  the  Tuscaroras  began 
in  1711.  Some  of  the  tribe  fought  under  ''Bonnul"  as  they  term 
Col.  Barnwell,  and  we  have  rehable  evidence  that  they  brought 
home  a  few  Mattamuskeet  Indians  as  prisoners  and  slaves.  The 
descendants  of  these  Mattamuskeets  had  their  traditions  also. 
The  name  Dare  was  not  recognized  by  them  in  our  first  investi- 
gations but  we  afterwards  discovered  that  they  pronounce  the 
name  variously  as  Darr,  Durr,  and  Dorr.  This  discovery  was 
made  when  we  related  to  an  old  chronicler  of  the  tribe  the  story 
of  Virginia  Dare,  the  first  white  child  born  on  American  soil. 
This  name  Dorr  or  Durr  has  disappeared  on  the  Lumber  River 
since  the  war  of  1812.  The  name  Dorr  appears  on  the  muster 
roll  of  a  company  composed  in  part  of  Indians  from  Robeson 
County  which  served  during  that  war,  in  the  United  States  Army. 

Several  chroniclers,  or  old  persons  who  keep  the  traditions  of 
the  tribe,  have  informed  us  that  there  are  families  bearing  the 
name  of  Dorr  or  Durr,  to  be  found  in  western  North  CaroUna 
who  are  claimed  by  the  tribe  as  descended  from  the  English 
colonists  of  Roanoke.  These  chroniclers  affii'm  that  the  Dares, 
Coopers,  Harvies,  and  others  retained  their  purity  of  blood  and 
were  generally  the  pioneers  in  emigration.  Many  names  are  cor- 
rupted, so  that  it  is  difficult  to  trace  their  history.  The  name 
Goins  was  originally  O'Guin,  as  appears  from  ancient  court  records. 
The  name  Lumber,  as  apphed  to  the  river,  was  originally  Lum- 
bee  or  Lombee.  The  name  Manteo  is  not  familiar  to  them.  While 
they  have  a  tradition  of  their  leader  or  chief  who  went  to  Eng- 
land, yet  they  have  preserved  no  name  for  him.  The  nearest 
approach  to  the  name  Manteo,  is  Maino  or  Mainor.  An  old 
woman,  whom  we  interviewed,  spoke  of  their  great  man  as  Won- 
oke.  This  name  may  be  a  corruption  of  Roanoke,  for  we  must 
remember  Manteo  was  made  Lord  of  Roanoke.  Mattamuskeet 
Lake,  according  to  a  tradition  preserved  by  these  Indians,  was  a 


52  INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

burnt  lake  or  lake  caused  by  water  filling  a  hole  burnt  in  the  ground. 
We  are  indebted  for  this  tradition  to  an  aged  gentleman  of  Robeson 
County  who  was  familiar  with  the  traditions  of  the  tribe  from 
about  1820  to  1824.  He  mentioned  several  persons  who  repre- 
sented that  they  were  descended  from  Mattamuskeet  Indians 
who  were  taken  prisoners,  in  the  war  between  the  Whites  and 
Tuscaroras,  by  the  tribe  on  the  Lumber  River.  These  Matta- 
muskeets  could  locate  the  dwelling  places  of  their  ancestors  who 
lived  in  what  is  now  Hyde  County,  in  the  vicinity  of  Mattamus- 
keet Lake.  In  our  investigations  we  could  find  no  tradition  re- 
specting these  persons.  The  names  given  by  our  informant  have 
all  disappeared.  Large  numbers  have  emigrated  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  century.  Within  half  a  century  about  40 
familes  left  the  county  of  Robeson  from  about  Plainview  and  went 
to  the  Northwest.  ''Traditions  are  fading  fast,"  our  informant  re- 
marked, "as  far  back  as  1820  their  traditions  were  more  vivid  than 
now  and  were  famihar  to  old  and  young.  Now,  you  will  find 
their  ancient  traditions  confined  to  comparatively  a  few  old  per- 
sons. " 

Pungo  Lake  is  known  among  them  as  Mattapungo.  They  have 
no  tradition  as  to  any  river  named  Roanoke.  This  name  is  in- 
variably appUed  by  them  to  the  territory  previously  described  as 
occupied  by  their  tribe  on  the  eastern  coast.  Hawks,  as  previ- 
ously mentioned,  speaks  of  the  tribe  in  1587  as  Hattera3  Indians. 
When  the  act  of  the  North  Carolina  General  Assembly  was  read 
to  them,  recognizing  them  as  Croatans,  an  intelhgent  Indian  re- 
marked that  he  had  always  heard  that  they  were  called  Hattoras 
Indians.  The  fine  of  emigration  extended  westward  from  what 
is  now  Carteret  County,  and  can  be  traced  according  to  tradition 
as  far  Avest  as  the  French  Broad,  in  Buncombe  County.  Tradition 
respecting  locahties  occupied  b}^  the  tribe  at  the  time  of  the  ab- 
sorption of  the  English  colony  is  vague,  but  definite  enough  to 
establish  the  behef  that  their  territory  once  embraced  portions,  at 
least,  of  the  present  counties  of  Carteret,  Jones,  and  Craven.  It 
is  not  at  all  probable  that  any  of  the  Enghsh  colonists  left  by 
Gov.  White  ever  lived  west  of  the  county  of  Jones.  The  settle- 
ment on  the  Lumber  River  in  Robeson  County  was  made  dur- 
ing the  seventeenth  century,  possibly  as  early  as  1650.  The  rev- 
ocation of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  occurred  in  1685,  and  thousands 
of  French  Huguenots,  driven  to  exile,  found  refuge  in  South  Car- 
oHna.  As  early  as  1709,  a  colony  of  these  exiles  located  in  the 
eastern  part  of  North  Carolina.  Some  of  these  Huguenots  pen- 
etrated the  interior  as  far  as  the  Lumber  River  in  the  early  part 
of  the  last  century,  and  found  the  country  north  and  east  of  them 
thickly  populated  by  Indians  who  had  farms  and  roads  and  other 
evidences  of  civilized  fife,  and  had  evidently  resided  there  for  a 
considerable  time  before  the  approach  of  white  men. 

Settlements  were  made  toward  the  Pee  Dee  and  at  points  be- 
yond that  river  after  their  location  on  the  Lumber. 

The  language  spoken  is  almost  pure  Anglo  Saxon,  a  fact  which 
we  think  affords  corroborative  evidence  of  their  relation  to  the 
lost  colony  of  White.  Mon  (Saxon)  is  used  for  man,  father  is 
pronounced  fayther,  and  a  tradition  is  usually  begun  as  follows: 


INDIANS  OF   NOETH   CAEOLINA.  53 

"Mon,  m.j  fayther  told  me  that  his  fayther  told  him,"  etc.  Men- 
sion  is  used  for  measurement,  aks  for  ask,  hit  for  it,  hosen  for  hose, 
lovend  for  loving,  housen  for  houses.  They  seem  to  have  but  two 
sounds  for  the  letter  a,  one  hke  short  o.  Many  of  the  words  in 
common  use  among  them  have  long  been  obsolete  in  Enghsh-speak- 
ing  countries. 

They  are  a  proud  race,  boasting  alike  of  their  English  and  Indian 
blood,  hospitable  to  strangers,  and  ever  ready  to  do  friendly  offices 
for  white  people. 

They  are  peaceable  in  disposition,  but  when  aroused  by  repeated 
injury  they  will  fight  desperately.  The  great  mass  shun  notoriety 
and  carefully  avoid  places  where  crowds  of  other  races  assemble. 
They  generally  live  retired  from  public  highways  and  seem  to  show 
Indian  characteristics  more  strongly  than  in  former  times.  There 
are  sixteen  churches  owned  by  them  in  Robeson  County,  divided 
among  Baptist  and  Methodist  denominations.  Their  schoolhouses, 
built  entirely  by  private  means,  are  all  framed  buildings  and  provided 
far  better  than  those  of  the  colored  race. 

They  are  great  road  makers,  like  their  ancestors.  The  best  public 
roads  in  North  Carolina  are  found  among  this  tribe. 

There  has  been  no  census  taken  separately  from  the  other  races, 
but  the  number  in  Robeson  County  is  fully  2,500,  and,  considering 
the  settlements  in  other  counties,  the  total  is  not  less  than  5,000. 
The  enrollment  of  Croatan  children  in  Robeson  County  between  the 
ages  of  six  and  twenty-one  years,  in  accordance  with  an  act  of  the 
general  assembly  passed  in  1885,  shows  about  eleven  hundred  entitled 
to  the  benefit  of  public  instruction,  provided  separately  for  the  race. 

By  an  act  of  the  general  assembly  passed  in  1887  a  normal  school 
for  teachers  of  the  Croatan  race  was  established,  and  the  sum  of  S500 
is  annually  appropriated  for  two  years  by  the  State  for  its  support. 

According  to  the  law  of  North  Carolina,  all  marriages  between  a 
white  person  and  a  negro  or  Indian,  or  between  a  white  person  and  a 
person  of  negro  or  Indian  descent  to  the  third  generation,  inclusive, 
are  null  and  void,  but  there  was  no  inhibition  of  marriage  between  an 
Indian  and  a  negro  till  the  general  assembly  of  1887  amended  the 
law  by  declaring  all  marriages  between  Croatan  Indians  and  negroes 
or  persons  of  negro  descent  to  the  third  generation,  inclusive,  null  and 
void. 

Chapter  VII. 

In  investigating  the  traditions  prevalent  among  this  singular  peo- 
ple we  found  many  family  names  identical  with  those  of  the  lost 
colony  of  1587.  For  the  information  of  the  reader  we  ^ive  a  list  of 
the  names  of  all  the  men,  women,  and  children  of  Raleigh's  colony, 
which  arrived  in  Virginia  and  remained  to  inhabit  there.  This  list 
is  found  in  first  volume  of  Hawks'  History  of  North  Carolina  and 
copied  from  Hakluyt,  Volume  III,  page  280. 


54 


INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CABOLINA. 


Anno  Regni  Regin^  Elizabeths  29. 


John  White. 
Roger  Baily. 
Ananias  Dare. 
Christopher  Cooper. 
Thomas  Stevens. 
John  Sampson. 
Dionys  Harvie. 
Roger  Prat. 
George  Howe. 
Simon  Fernando. 
Nicholas  Johnson. 
Thomas  Warner. 
Anthony  Cage. 
WiUiam  Willes. 
William  Brown. 
Michael  Myllet. 
Thomas  Smith. 
Richard  Kemme. 
Thomas  Harris. 
Richard  Taverner. 
William  Clement. 
Robert  Little. 
Hugh  Tayler. 
William  Berde. 
Richard  Wildye. 
Lewes  Wotton. 
Michael  Bishop. 
Henry  Browne. 
Henry  Rufotte. 
Richard  Tomkins. 
Henry  Dorrell. 


John  Jones. 
John  BrooTcs. 
Cutbert  White. 
John  Bright. 
Clement  Taylor. 
William  Sole. 
John  Cotsmuir. 
Humphrey  Newton. 
Thomas  Colman. 
Thomas    Gramme,    or 
Graham,  Graeme. 
Mark  Bennet. 
John  Gibbes. 
John  Stilman. 
John  Earnest. 
Henry  Johnson. 
John  Starte. 
Richard  Darige. 
William  Lucas. 
Arnold  Archard. 
William  Nichols. 
Thomas  Phevens. 
John  Borden. 
Charles  Florrie. 
Henry  Mylton. 
Henry  Paine. 
Thomas  FI arris. 
Thomas  Scot. 
Peter  Little. 
John  Wyles. 
Bryan  Wyles. 


Robert  WilTcinson. 
John  Tydway. 
Ambrose  Viccars, 
Edmund  English. 
Thomas  Top  an. 
Henry  Berry. 
Richard  Berry. 
John  Spendlove. 
John  Hemmington. 
Thomas  Butler. 
Edward  Powell. 
John  Burdon. 
James  Hynde. 
Thomas  Ellis. 
John  Wright. 
WilUam  Dutton. 
Maurice  Allen. 
William  Waters. 
Richard  Arthur. 
John  Chapman. 
James  Lasie. 
John  Cheven. 
Thomas  Hewett. 
George  Martin. 
Hugh  Pattenson. 
Martin  Sutton. 
John  Farre. 
John  Bndger. 
Griffin  Jones. 
Richard  Shabedge. 


WOMEN. 


Eleanor  Dare. 
Margery  Harvie. 
Agnes  Wood. 
Winnifred  Powell. 
Joyce  Archard. 
Jane  Jones. 


Elizabeth  Glane. 
Jane  Pierce. 
Andry  Tappan. 
Alice  Charman. 
Emma  Merunoth. 
Colman. 


Margaret  Lawrence. 
Joan  Warren. 
Jane  Mannering. 
Rose  Payne. 
Elizabeth  Viccars. 


BOYS    AND    CHILDREN. 


John  Sampson. 
Robert  Ellis. 
Ambrose  Viccas. 


Thomas  Archard.  George  Howe. 

Thomas  Humphrey.       John  Prat. 
Thomas  Smart.  William  Wythers. 


Virginia  Dare. 


CHILDREN    BORN    IN    VIRGINIA. 

Harvie. 


INDIANS    OF    NOETH    CAROLINA.  55 

Manteo  and  Towaye,  or  Wanchese,  that  were  in  England,  returned 
to  Vkginia  with  the  colony. 

Gov.  John  White,  at  the  solicitation  of  the  colonists,  returned  to 
England;  Simon  Fernando,  the  Spanish  pilot  of  the  expedition,  also 
returned.  George  How^e,  one  of  the  "Assistants"  of  Gov.  White, 
was  killed  by  the  Indians  on  Eoanoke  Island  soon  after  the  arrival. 
Omitting  the  name  of  the  perfidious  Fernando,  we  have  120  persons 
in  all,  including  men,  women,  and  children,  and  about  90  family 
names,  represented  in  the  colony. 

The  names  in  the  foregoing  list  in  italics  are  those  which  are  found 
at  this  time  among  the  Indians  residing  in  Robeson  County  and  in 
other  counties  of  North  Carolina.  The  traditions  of  every  family 
bearing  the  name  of  one  of  the  lost  colonists  point  to  Roanoke  as  the 
country  of  their  ancestors. 

If  we  accept  their  traditions  they  held  communication  wdth  the 
eastern  coast  long  after  their  exodus,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that 
it  was  a  party  of  this  tribe  which  Lawson  describes  in  1714  as  visiting 
their  old  hunting  grounds  and  who  described  their  ancestors  as  people 
who  "could  talk  in  a  book."  ^ 

As  to  the  intellectual  character  of  this  singular  people  but  little  can 
be  written,  as  public  schools  were  unknowTi  prior  to  1835  and  such 
education  as  they  obtained  up  to  that  date  was  limited  to  a  knowdedge 
of  reading  and  writing  and  the  fundamental  rules  of  arithmetic. 
Hundreds  have  grown  up  to  manhood  and  womanhood  in  perfect 
ignorance  of  books.  By  nature  they  are  quick-witted,  and,  judging 
by  the  few  examples  of  educated  ones,  they  are  equal  to  the  whites 
in  mental  capacity.  Ex-United  States  Senator  Ivevels,  of  Mississippi, 
belongs  to  this  tribe.  He  was  born  in  Robeson  County  and  emigrated 
to  the  northwest,  where  he  was  educated  and  subsequently  resided 
in  Mississippi. 

The  action  of  the  North  Carolina  Legislature  in  establishing  sepa- 
rate scnools  for  this  race  and  in  recognizing  them  as  the  descendants 
of  the  friendly  Croatans  known  to  the  early  colonists  is  one  great  step 
toward  their  moral  and  intellectual  elevation.  They  are  almost  uni- 
versally landholders  and  occupy  a  territory  in  the  county  of  Robeson 
of  about  60,000  acres,  adapted  to  the  growth  of  corn,  cotton,  and 
tobacco. 

Chapter  VIII. 

It  has  long  been  a  settled  conviction  that  the  lost  colonists  perished 
from  starvation  or  savage  cruelty. 

This  conviction  has  arisen  from  the  fact  that  they  were  seen  no 
more  by  white  men. 

The  particulars  given  by  Gov.  Wliite  of  the  understanding  which 
existed  between  him  and  the  colonists  prior  to  his  departure  for  Eng- 
land in  1587,  and  his  finding  the  word  "Croatoan"  on  a  tree,  in  a  con- 
spicuous place,  on  his  return  in  1590,  seem  to  prove  conclusively  that 
the  English  had  accepted  the  invitation  of  Manteo's  tribe  and  had 
gone  to  Croatan  Island.  The  fact  that  they  were  seen  no  more  by 
white  men  does  not  prove  that  they  perished.  The  same  fact  exists 
in  regard  to  the  Croatans  and  the  same  argument  would  prove  their 
destruction  also. 

1  Lawson's  History  was  first  published  in  1709. 


56  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

We  must  remember  that  the  region  embracing  Croatan  Island  and 
the  adjacent  mainland  was  unexplored  for  a  long  period  after  the 
attempt  at  settlement  on  Koanoke  Island.  The  history  of  those 
times  shows  that  in  1609^  the  northeast  corner  of  North  Carolina  was 
settled  by  a  colony  from  Virginia. 

In  1654,  sixty-seven  years  after  the  English  colonists  were  last  seen 
on  Eoanoke,  Virginia  adventurers  had  explored  as  far  south  as  tiie 
Pamlico  and  Neuse  Rivers.  In  1656  ^  a  settlement  was  made  on  Albe- 
marle Sound.  A  colony  from  Massachusetts  was  located  on  the  Cape 
Fear  in  1660  and  was  soon  abandoned.  Sir  John  Yeamans'  colony 
landed  on  the  same  river  in  1664.  In  1690  a  French  colony  from  Vir- 
ginia settled  on  Pamhco  Sound,  and  in  1698  emigrants  from  Albemarle 
also  located  in  that  region. 

We  have  .cited  these  facts  to  show  how  little  was  loiown  from  1587 
to  1690  of  the  region  where  tradition  says  the  Croatans  were  settled. 

In  1690,  the  date  of  the  settlement  of  the  French  on  Pamlico,  all  the 
English  colonists  must  have  been  dead,  and  the  sad  story  was  held 
only  in  tradition,  and  it  may  be  that  the  Croatans  who  were  then 
remaining  in  that  region,  on  the  approach  of  the  new  colony,  removed 
farther  into  the  interior,  where  portions  of  that  tribe  had  previously 
located. 

As  previously  intimated,  the  traditions  of  the  Indians  now  living  in 
Robeson  are  sufficiently  clear  to  prove  that  at  an  early  period  they 
located  south  of  Pamlico  Sound  on  the  mainland.  Tradition  in  regarH 
to  their  ancient  dwelling  places  on  the  tributaries  of  Black  River  in 
the  present  county  of  Sampson  are  more  definite.  The  fact  that 
French,  English,  Irish,  and  perhaps  German  names  are  found  among 
them  is  accounted  for  by  the  tradition  that  marriages  frequently 
occurred  between  them  and  the  early  immigrants.  The  name  Chavis 
which  is  common  among  this  people,  is  probably  a  corruption  of  the 
French  name  Cheves.  Goins  was  O'Guin,  as  court  records  prove. 
Leary  was  O'Leary.  Blauc  or  Blaux  is  French.  Braboy  is  of  recent 
origin  and  was  originally  "Brave  Boy"  and  dates  back  to  the  war 
with  the  Tuscaroras  in  1711  and  was  conferred  on  an  Indian  by  the 
commander  of  the  English  for  some  meritorious  act. 

From  the  earliest  settlement  of  the  country  along  the  Lumber  River 
these  Indians  have  been  an  English-speaking  people.  Their  language 
has  many  peculiarities  and  reminds  one  of  the  English  spoken  in  the 
days  of  Chaucer.  The  number  of  old  English  words  in  common  use 
among  them  which  have  long  been  obsolete  in  English-speaking  coun- 
tries is  corroborative  of  the  truth  of  their  tradition  that  they  are  the 
descendants  of  the  lost  Englishmen  of  Roanoke. 

In  traveling  on  foot  they  march  in  "Indian  file"  and  exhibit  a 
fondness  for  bright  red  colors.  They  unconsciously  betray  many 
other  traits  characteristic  of  Indians.  The  custom  of  raising  patches 
of  tobacco  for  their  own  use  has  been  handed  down  from  time  imme- 
morial. 

In  building  they  exhibit  no  little  architectural  skill.  In  road  mak- 
ing they  excel.  Some  of. the  best  roads  in  North  Carolina  can  be 
found  within  their  territory.  They  are  universally  hospitable  and 
polite  to  strangers.  They  are  proud  of  their  race  and  boast  of  their 
English  ancestry.  Like  their  ancestors,  they  are  friendly  to  white 
men. 

1  Should  read  "  about  1661." 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA.  57 

Their  traditions  are  generally  preserved  by  the  old  members  of  the 
tribe,  but  the  tradition  is  miiversal  among  them  from  infancy  to  old 
age  that  their  ancestors  came  from  "Eoanoke  in  Virginia."  By  Vir- 
ginia they  mean  eastern  North  Carolina,  and  the  term  "Roanoke" 
means  the  territory  occupied  by  the  tribe  in  the  vicinity  of  Pamlico 
Sound.  In  religious  matters  they  are  Baptists  and  Methodists.  The 
latter  belong  to  what  is  called  the  Indian  Mission,  which  is  of  recent 
origin. 

"They  never  forget  a  kindness,  an  injury,  nor  a  debt,"  said  an  old 
citizen.  *  *  *  "They  may  not  pay  you  when  a  debt  is  due,  but 
they  seldom  forget  an  obligation  and  are  sure  to  pay  you  after  a 
time." 

In  common  with  all  Indians  they  have  a  great  respect  for  the 
Quakers  and  look  upon  them  as  the  true  friends  of  the  Indian.  In  the 
olden  time  they  had  houses  of  entertainment  for  travelers. 

The  number  of  family  names  to  be  found  among  them  identical 
with  those  of  the  colonists  of  lioanoke  is  further  corroborative  of  their 
traditional  descent. 

The  line  of  emigration  from  their  original  seat  on  the  coast  was  west- 
ward and  can  be  traced  as  far  west  as  the  French  Broad,  in  Buncombe 
County.  Though  many  families  of  this  tribe  emigrated  from  the 
Lumber  River  a  long  while  ago,  yet  the  locations  of  many  of  them 
have  been  located  in  western  North  Carolina  wth  unerring  certainty. 

The  writer  has  been  much  interested  in  investigating  the  traditions 
prevalent  among  the  Croatans  and  expresses  his  firm  conviction  that 
they  are  descended  from  the  friendly  tribe  found  on  our  eastern  coast 
in  1587  and  also  descended  from  the  lost  colonists  of  Roanoke  who 
were  amalgamated  \\'ith  this  tribe. 

Through  many  centuries  of  time  there  comes  down  to  us  the  sad 
story  of  the  lost  legions  of  Varus.  The  mystery  that  so  long  hung 
over  the  fate  of  those  legions  was  solved  by  Drusus,  who  found  the 
bleaching  bones  of  his  countrymen  in  a  German  forest  near  the  Baltic 
Sea. 

The  fate  of  the  lost  colonists  of  Roanoke,  we  submit,  is  revealed  in 
the  foregoing  pages. 

To  the  charitable  who  are  interested  in  the  moral  elevation  of 
humanity  we  heartily  commend  the  Croatans. 


EXHIBIT  CC. 

THE  LOST  COLONY  OF  ROANOKE:    ITS  FATE  AND   SITRVIVAL.* 

[By  Stephen  B.  Weeks.] 


The  disappearance  of  the  settlers  of  1587  has  been  called  the  tragedy 
of  American  colonization.  The  greatest  interest  was  manifested  in 
their  fate  by  all  the  early  explorers.  Numerous  expeditions  were 
sent  in  search  of  them.  These  brought  back  various  rumors,  but 
nothing  certain  could  be  learned.  Their  history  became  interwoven 
with  legend  and  romance;  but  after  a  lapse  of  three  hundred  years 
they  emerge  again  from  the  darkness  and  dust  of  oblivion. 

It  is  now  believed  that  the  colonists  of  1587  removed  to  Croatan 
soon  after  the  return  of  Governor  Wliite  to  England;  that  they  inter- 
married with  the  Croatan  or  Hatteras  Indians;  that  their  wander- 
ings westward  can  be  definitely  traced;  and  that  their  descendants 
can  be  identified  to-day. 

It  is  to  a  discussion  of  the  movements  of  the  colonists  after  the 
departure  of  Wliite,  and  to  the  identification  of  their  descendants, 
that  the  remaining  pages  of  this  paper  wiU  be  directed. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  colonists  removed  to  Croatan. 
When  Wliite  left  them,  "they  were  prepared  to  remove  from  Roanoak, 
fifty  miles  into  the  main.''  He  agreed  with  them  that  they  should 
carve  in  some  conspicuous  place  the  name  of  the  section  to  wliich  they 
went  and  if  they  went  in  distress  a  sign  of  the  cross  was  to  be  carved 
above.  The  name  Croatan  was  found,  but  there  was  no  sign  of  dis- 
tress. The  colonists  must  have  gone  on  the  invitation  of  Manteo  and 
his  friends,  and  the  fact  that  their  chests  and  other  heavy  articles 
were  buried  indicates  that  it  was  their  intention  to  revisit  the  island 
of  Roanoke  at  some  future  time,  and  that  it  was  then  in  the  possession 
of  hostile  savages.  These  articles  consisted  largely  of  arms  and  other 
instruments  of  war.  This  indicates  that  they  went  into  the  land  of 
friends  and  that  that  their  new  home  was  not  far  distant,  otherwise 
they  would  have  taken  all  their  property  with  them  rather  than  endure 
the  fatigue  of  a  second  long  journey  to  Roanoke  for  it.  The  question 
arises  then.  Where  was  Croatan  ?  On  the  location  of  this  place  the 
future  of  the  colony  depended.  Croatan,  or  more  properly  Croatoan, 
is  an  Indian  word,  and  was  applied  by  the  Hatteras  Indians  to  the 
place  of  their  residence.  Here  Manteo  was  born,  and  here  his  relatives 
were  hving  when  he  first  met  the  Eno;hsh;  the  latter  soon  began  to 
apply  the  name  to  the  Indians  themselves.  The  island  of  Roanoke 
was  not  at  that  time  regularly  inhabited,  but  was  used  as  a  hunting 

'  Reprinted  from  Papers  American  Historical  Association,  1891,  V,  pp.  460-477. 

The  late  Dr.  William  T.  Harris,  when  United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  took  much  interest  in 
this  theory  of  survival.  He  once  expressed  in  the  presence  of  this  writer  the  belief  that  it  was  the  greatest 
historical  discovery  of  the  nineteenth  century. — S.  B.  W. 

58 


INDIANS  OF   FORTH   CAEOLINA.  59 

ground  by  the  tribe  to  which  Manteo  belonged,  and  also  by  their 
enemies  who  Hved  on  the  main  and  were  the  subjects  of  Wingina. 

The  name  Croatan  first  appears  in  the  account  of  GrenviUe's  voy- 
age of  1585.  It  is  there  made  an  island;  Lane  says  that  it  was  an 
island;  and  White  also  bears  witness  to  this,  for  he  says,  when  describ- 
ing his  discovery  of  the  deserted  and  dismantled  fort:  "1  greatly 
joyed  that  I  had  found  a  certain  token  of  their  safe  being  at  Croatoan, 
which  is  the  place  where  Manteo  was  born  and  the  savages  of  the 
island  our  friends."  On  White's  map  of  the  coast  it  is  put  down  as 
an  island.  From  these  facts  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  the  adventurers 
believed  Croatan  to  be  an  island.  The  map  of  1666  and  the  Nurem- 
burg  map  make  it  a  part  of  the  banks  lying  between  Cape  Hatteras 
and  Cape  Lookout,  perhaps  what  is  now  known  as  Core  Banks,  and 
consequently  an  island;  but  later  maps  have  located  Croatan  on  the 
mainland,  just  opposite  Roanoke  Island,  in  the  present  counties  of 
Dare,  TyrreU,  and  Hyde.  It  is  marked  thus  on  Ogilby's  map,  pub- 
Ushed  by  the  Lords  Proprietors  in  1671,  on  Morden's  map  of  1687,  and 
on  Lawson's  map,  published  in  1709.  A  part  of  tliis  region  is  still 
known  as  Croatan,  while  the  sound  between  this  section  and  Roanoke 
Island  bears  the  name  of  Croatan.  On  the  Nuremburg  map  and  on 
the  map  of  1666  this  peninsula  is  caUed  Dasamonguepeuk.  Now  we 
know  that  in  1587  Manteo  was  baptized  as  Lord  of  Roanoke  and 
Dasamonguepeuk.  This  title  clearly  indicates  that  the  Hatteras 
tribe,  to  which  Manteo  belonged,  laid  claims  to  the  peninsula.  They 
doubtless  made  use  of  it  for  the  cultivation  of  corn,  as  weU  as  for 
hunting  and  fishing,  while  their  principal  seat  was  some  eighty  miles 
to  the  south  on  the  island  of  Croatan.  The  Enghsh  colonists  have 
left  us  unimpeachable  testimony  that  they  removed  from  Roanoke 
Island  to  Croatan.  The  Croatan  of  the  early  explorers  and  maps  was 
a  long,  narrow,  storm-beaten  sandbank,  incapable  in  itseK  of  sup- 
porting savage  life,  much  less  the  lives  of  men  and  women  living  in 
the  agricultural  stage.  It  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the 
colonists  would  have  gone  from  a  fertile  soil  to  a  sterile  one.  It  is 
probable,  then,  that  in  accordance  with  an  understanding  between 
each  other,  the  Hatteras  Indians  having  abandoned  their  residence 
on  Croatan  Island,  and  the  Enghsh  colonists  having  given  up  their 
settlements  on  Roanoke  Island,  both  settled  on  the  fertile  peninsula 
of  Dasamonguepeuk,  which  the  Hatteras  tribe  had  already  claimed 
and  partly  occupied,  but  which  they  had  not  been  able  to  defend 
against  enemies.  The  name  of  their  former  place  of  residence  fol- 
lowed the  tribe,  was  apphed  to  their  new  home,  and  thus  got  into  the 
later  maps.  If  this  theory  is  accepted,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  the  Hat- 
teras tribe  may  have  come  into  communication  with  kindred  tribes 
on  the  Chowan  and  Roanoke  rivers,  to  which  they  seem  to  have 
gone  at  a  later  period.  This  is  one  end  of  the  chain  of  evidence  in 
this  history  of  survivals. 

The  other  end  of  the  chain  is  to  be  found  in  a  tribe  of  Indians  now 
living  in  Robeson  County  and  the  adjacent  sections  of  North  Carohna, 
and  recognized  officially  by  the  State  in  1885  as  Croatan  Indians, 
These  Indians  are  beheved  to  be  the  Hneal  descendants  of  the  colo- 
nists left  by  John  White  on  Roanoke  Island  in  1587.  The  migi-ations 
of  the  Croatan  tribe  from  former  homes  farther  to  the  east  can  be 
traced  by  their  tradition.  It  is  pretty  clear  that  the  tribe  removed 
to  their  present  home  from  former  settlements  on  Black  River,  in 


60  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Sampson  County.  The  time  of  their  removal  is  uncertain;  but  all 
traditions  point  to  a  time  anterior  to  the  Tuscarora  war  in  1711,  and 
it  is  probable  that  they  were  fixed  in  their  present  homes  as  early  as 
1650.^  During  the  eighteenth  century  they  occupied  the  country  as 
far  west  as  the  Pee  Dee,  but  their  principal  seats  were  on  Lumber 
River,  in  Robeson  County,  and  extended  along  it  for  twenty  miles. 
They  held  their  lands  in  common,  and  titles  became  known  only  on 
the  approach  of  white  men.  The  first  known  grant  made  to  any 
member  of  this  tribe  is  located  on  the  Lowrie  Swamp  east  of  Lumber 
River,  and  was  made  by  George  II  in  1732  to  Henry  Berry  and  James 
Lowrie.2  Another  grant  was  made  to  James  Lowrie  in  1738.  Tradi- 
tions point  to  still  older  deeds  that  are  not  known  to  now  exist.  The 
tribe  has  never  ceased  to  be  migi'atory  in  its  disposition.  For 
many  years  after  the  main  body  had  settled  in  Robeson,  scattered 
detachments  would  join  them  from  their  old  homes  farther  to  the 
east,  while  parts  would  remove  farther  toward  the  west.  They  are 
now  to  be  found  aU  over  western  North  Carolina,  and  many  families 
there  who  have  retained  their  purity  of  blood  to  such  a  degree  that 
they  can  not  be  distinguished  from  white  people  are  claimed  by  the 
tribe  in  Robeson.  After  the  coming  of  the  white  people  a  part  of 
th«  tribe  removed  to  the  region  of  the  Great  Lakes,  and  their  descend- 
ants are  still  living  in  Canada,  west  of  Lake  Ontario.  At  a  later 
period  another  company  went  to  the  Northwest  and  became  mcor- 
porated  with  a  tribe  near  Lake  Michigan.  Some  time  before  the 
war  a  party  drifted  to  Ohio;  one  of  them,  Lewis  Sheridan  Leary, 
was  in  John  Brown's  party  when  he  invaded  Harper's  Ferry  in  1859, 
and  was  kiUed  there  October  17,  1859,  while  guarding  John  Brown's 
"fort."  ^     In  1890  a  party  removed  to  Kansas. 

The  Croatans  fought  under  Colonel  Barnwell  against  the  Tusca- 
roras  in  1711,  and  the  tribe  of  to-day  speak  with  pride  of  the  stand 
taken  by  their  ancestors  under  "Bunnul"  for  the  cause  of  the  whites.* 
In  this  war  they  took  some  of  the  Mattamuskeet  Indians  prisoners 
and  made  them  slaves.  Many  of  the  Croatans  were  in  the  Continental 
Army;  in  the  War  of  1812  a  company  was  mustered  into  the  Army  of 
the  United  States,  and  members  of  the  tribe  received  pensions  for 
these  services  within  the  memory  of  the  present  generation;  they  also 
fought  in  the  armies  of  the  Confederate  States.  Politically  they  have 
had  Uttle  chance  for  development.     From  1783  to  1835  they  had  the 

I  McMillan:  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  Lost  Colony,  p.  20. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  14.  The  deeds  for  these  grants  are  still  extant  and  are  in  the  possession  of  Hon.  D.  P.  McEachin, 
of  Robeson  County,  North  Carolina. 

3  The  late  Mr.  John  S.  Leary  wrote  the  author  from  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  under  date  of  July  22,  1891: 

"I  do  not  know  as  to  whether  any  considerable  number  of  the  'Croatans'  emigrated  from  the  State  at 
any  time  in  a  body.  Quite  a  number  who  were  connected  with  the  Croatans  in  Robeson  County  left  the 
State  at  different  times.  Senator  Hiram  R.  Revels,  his  brothers,  Willis  B.  &  Absalom,  and  two  sisters, 
some  of  the  Oxendines,  Learys,  and  Dials;  I  do  not  know  the  exact  number.  My  father's  mother  was  a 
Revels,  born  in  Robeson  County,  was  2d  cousin  to  Hiram.  She  married  an  Irishman  named  O'Leary. 
Father  was  born  in  Sampson  County,  on  the  Big  Coharie,  his  parents  having  moved  to  that  county.  In 
1806  they  came  to  Fayetteville,  where  father  lived  until  he  died,  in  1880.  Father  came  from  the  'Croatan 
stock.'  My  mother  was  born  in  France,  and  was  brought  to  this  country  by  her  parents  in  1812.  Father 
&  mother  were  married  in  1825.  In  1857  my  father  sent  my  brother,  Lewis  Sheridan  Leary,  to  Oberlin, 
Ohio.  While  there  he  formed  an  acquaintance  with  John  Brown  and  went  with  him  to  Harper's  Ferry  in 
October,  1859.  He  was  killed  on  the  17th  day  of  October,  1859.  while  guarding  what  is  now  known  as 
'John  Brown's  Fort.'  I  saw  this  fort  for  the  first  time  in  1880.  It  is  a  small  brick  house.  I  have  a  grand 
uncle,  my  father's  mother's  brother,  living  now  in  the  Croatan  settlement  in  Robeson  County,  108  years 
old.  As  soon  as  I  can  make  it  convenient  to  see  him  I  will  have  a  talk  with  him  and  put  on  paper  whatever 
information  I  can  get  from  him  and  give  you  the  benefit  of  it." 

<  The  traditions  of  the  tribe  that  they  fought  in  the  Tuscarora  war  are  verified  by  the  Colonial  Records 
of  North  Carolina.  In  vol.  ii.,  p.  129,  we  find  an  entry:  "Whereas,  report  has  been  made  to  this  board 
that  the  Hatteress  Indyans  have  lately  made  their  escape  from  the  enemy  Indyans,"  i.  e.,  Tuscaroras. 
Again,  on  p.  171,  we  find:  "Upon  petition  of  the  Hatterass  Indyans  praying  some  small  relief  from  the 
country  for  their  services,"  etc. 


INDIANS   OP   NORTH   CAEOLINA.  61 

right  to  vote,  performed  military  duties,  encouraged  scliools,  and 
built  churches;  but  by  the  constituent  convention  of  1835  the  franchise 
was  denied  to  all  "free  persons  of  color,"  and  to  effect  a  pohtical 
purpose  it  was  contended  by  both  parties  that  the  Croatans  came 
under  this  catagory.  The  convention  of  1868  removed  this  ban; 
but  as  they  had  long  been  classed  as  mulattoes  they  were  obUged 
to  patronize  the  negro  schools.  This  they  refused  to  do  as  a  rule, 
preferring  that  their  children  should  grow  up  in  ignorance,  for  they 
hold  the  negro  in  utmost  contempt/  and  no  greater  insult  can  be  given 
a  Croatan  than  to  call  him  ''a  nigger." 

Finally,  in  1885,  through  the  efforts  of  Mi\  Hamilton  McMillan, 
who  has  lived  near  them  and  knows  their  history,  justice  long  de- 
layed was  granted  them  by  the  General  Assembly  of  North  CaroUna. 
They  were  officially  recognized  as  Croatan  Indians;  ^  separate  schools 
were  provided  for  them  and  intermarriage  witli  negroes  was  forbidden. 
Since  this  action  on  the  part  of  the  State  they  have  become  better 
citizens.^ 

They  are  almost  luiiversally  landowners,  occupying  about  sixty 
thousand  acres  in  Robeson  County.  They  are  industrious  and  frugal, 
and  anxious  to  improve  their  condition.  No  two  families  occupy  the 
same  house,  but  each  has  its  own  estabhshment. 

They  are  found  of  all  colors  from  black  to  white,  and  in  some  cases 
can  not  be  distinguished  from  white  people.  They  have  the  promi- 
nent cheek  bones,  the  steel-gray  eyes,  the  straight  black  hair  of  the 
Indian.*  Those  showing  the  Indian  features  most  prominently  have 
no  beards;  those  in  whom  the  white  element  predominates  have 
beards.  Their  women  are  frequently  beautiful;  their  movements  are 
graceful,  their  dresses  becoming,  their  figures  superb. 

In  religious  inclinations  they  are  Methodists  and  Baptists,  and  own 
sixteen  churches.  The  State  has  provided  them  a  normal  school  for 
the  training  of  teachers,  and  this  action  will  go  very  far  toward  their 
mental  and  moral  elevation.  Their  schoolhouses  have  been  built 
entirely  by  private  means;  they  are  all  frame  buildings,  and  are 
furnished  far  better  than  those  for  the  negro  race.  Their  school 
enrollment  in  Robeson  County  is  422,  according  to  the  report  of  the 
eleventh  census,  and  they  employ  eighteen  teachers.  Their  entire 
school  popidation,  from  six  to  twenty-one  years,  will  probably  amount 
to  eleven  hundred.  Their  whole  population  in  this  county  is  about 
twenty-five  hundred,  and  their  connections  in  other  counties  will 
perhaps  swell  this  number  to  five  thousand.  They  are  quick-witted, 
and  are  capable  of  development.  Mr.  John  S.  Leary,  a  prominent 
poHtician  of  Raleigh,  and  professor  of  law  in  Shaw  University,  was  a 
member  of  the  tribe,  and  one  of  their  number  has  reached  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  for  Hon.  Hiram  R.  Revels,  who  was  born  m 

1  McMillan,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  Lost  Colony,  14-16. 

2  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  name  "Croatan"  was  invented  to  strengthen  the  theory  of  their  origin 
as  here  presented,  but  this  is  not  the  case.  As  'we  have  seen,  Croatan  was  the  name  of  a  locality  and  not  of 
a  tribe.  The  tribal  name  was  Hattoras  or  Hatorask,  or,  as  we  now  spell  it,  Hatteras.  Laws'on  calls  the 
Indians  by  this  name.  Dr.  Hawks  remarks  on  the  error  of  the  explorers  in  calling  them  Croatans:  and  when 
the  act  of  the  North  Carolina  Assembly  recognizing  them  as  Croatans  was  read  to  them,  an  intelligent 
Indian  remarked  that  he  had  always  heard  that  they  were  called  "Hattoras"  Indians. — McMillan,  p.  20. 

3  It  is  said  by  Mr.  McMiUan,  that  after  the  North  Carolina  act  of  18S7  went  into  effect  the  Croatans  came 
near  filling  Liimberton  jail  with  violators  of  law,  the  prosecutors  in  nearly  all  cases  being  Croatans. 

*  A  recent  traveller  amon^  the  Croatans  writes  of  one  of  them:  "  Where  iii  my  life  had  I  seen  a  handsomer 
man?  The  face  was  pure  Greek  in  profile;  the  eyes  steel  blue,  the  figure  of  perfe<^t  mould,  and  the  man  as 
easily  graceful  in  his  attitude  as  any  gentleman  in  a  drawing-room.  I  sat  in  my  buggy  talking  with  this 
man  for  an  hour,  finding  him  far  above  ordinary  intelligence  and  full  of  information."  That  night  the 
traveller  learned  that  the  handsome  Croatan  was  a  brother  of  the  famous  Henry  Berry  Lowxie. 


62  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

FayetteviUe,  North  Carolina,  in  1822,  and  who  was  senator  from 
Mississippi  in  1870-71,  is  not  a  negro,  but  a  Croatan  Indian,^ 

This  is  the  other  end  of  the  chain.  To  connect  the  two  parts  and 
show  that  the  Croatan  Indians  of  to-day  are  the  descendants  of  the 
Hatteras  Indians  of  1587  and  of  the  English  colony  left  on  Roanoke 
Island  by  John  White  in  that  year,  we  must  examine,  first,  the 
evidence  of  historians  and  explorers  on  the  subject;  and,  second, 
the  traditions,  character,  and  disposition,  language,  and  family 
names  of  the  Croatan  Indians  themselves. 

We  hear  no  more  of  the  colonists  left  on  Roanoke  Island  from  the 
departure  of  White  in  1591  until  the  settlement  at  Jamestown.  We 
then  have  four  sources  of  information  in  regard  to  them.  The  first  of 
these  is  John  Smith's  "True  Relation,"  first  published  in  1608.  The 
second  is  a  rude  map  of  the  coast  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina, 
which  had  probably  been  sent  to  England  by  Capt.  Francis  Nelson 
in  June,  1608.  It  was  intended  to  illustrate  Smith's  "True  Relation," 
was  not  drawn  from  surveys,  nor  is  it  based  on  any  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  the  coast,  nor  had  the  maker  seen  the  map  of  the  coast  made 
by  John  White.  It  was  drawn  presumably  to  illustrate  a  story  told 
by  the  Indians,  and  based  on  the  information  derived  from  them.  It 
was  sent  in  September,  1608,  by  Zuniga,  the  Spanish  minister  in  Lon- 
don, to  his  master,  Philip  III,  and  is  now  first  published  in  Mr. 
Alexander  Brown's  "Genesis  of  the  United  States."  The  third  source 
is  a  pamphlet  called  "A  True  and  Sincere  Discourse  of  the  Purpose 
and  Ende  of  the  Plantation  begun  in  Virginia,"  published  in  1610. 
The  fourth  is  Strachey's  "History  of  Travaile  into  Vn'ginia  Britannia," 
ptibhshed  by  the  Hakluyt  Society  in  1849.  Strachey  came  to 
Virginia  as  early  as  1610,  and  became  secretary  of  the  council.  His 
history  is  put  by  Mr.  R.  H.  Major,  his  editor,  between  1612  and  1616. 

Captain  Smith  says  in  his  "True  Relation"  that  Opechancanough, 
one  of  the  Indian  kings,  informed  him  "of  certaine  men  cloathed  at 
a  place  called  Ocanahonan,  cloathed  like  me."  "The  people  cloathed 
at  Ocamahowan,  he  also  confirmed."  Again:  "We  had  agreed  with 
the  king  of  Paspahegh  to  conduct  two  of  our  men  to  a  place  called 
Panawicke,  beyond  Roonok,  where  he  reported  many  men  to  be 
apparelled.  "2 

The  map  illustrating  this  "Relation"  shows  three  rivers  which  are 
probably  intended  to  represent  the  Roanoke,  the  Tar,  and  the  Neuse. 
On  the  south  side  of  the  Roanoke  is  a  place  called-  Ocanahowan. 
On  the  upper  waters  of  the  Neuse  is  Pakrakanick,  and  near  it  the 
legend  "Here  remayneth  4  men  clothed  that  came  from  Roonock  to 
Ochanahowan."     The  peninsula  known  to  the  explorers  of  1585  as 

■  At  one  time  the  Croatans  were  known  as  "Redbones,"  and  there  is  a  street  in  FayetteviUe  so  called 
because  some  of  them  once  lived  on  it.  They  are  known  by  this  name  in  Sumpter  Cotmty,  S.  C,  where 
they  are  quiet  and  peaceable,  and  have  a  church  0/  their  owti.  They  are  proud  and  high-spirited,  and 
caste  is  very  strong  among  them. 

There  is  in  Hancock  Coimty,  Tennessee,  a  tribe  of  people  known  by  the  local  name  of  Malungeons  or 
Melungeons.  Some  say  they  are  a  branch  of  the  Croatan  tribe,  others  that  they  are  of  Poituguese  stock. 
They  differ  radically,  however,  in  manners  and  customs  from  the  accoimts  which  we  have  received  of  the 
Croatans  (c/.  2  articles  in  The  A  rcna  for  1891,  by  Miss  Will  Allen  Dromgoole) .  Mr.  McMillan  favors  the  view 
that  they  are  a  part  of  the  colony  of  Roanoke,  and  on  this  question  Mr.  John  M.  Bishop,  a  native  of  East 
Tennessee,  now  living  in  Washington,  writes  to  the  author:  "My  theory  is  that  they  are  a  part  of  th^  lost 
colony  of  Roanoke.  Your  utterances  at  the  recent  meeting  in  this  city  on  the  subject  of  the  Lost  Colony 
of  Roanoke  [meeting  of  Amer.  Hist.  Assn.,  Dec.  31,  1890]  were  so  nearly  in  line  with  my  ideas  in  this 
matter  that  I  now  write  to  call  your  attention  to  the  subject.  .  .  .  You  will  mark  the  fact  that  the 
Malungeons  are  located  on  Newman's  Ridge  and  Black  Water  Creek  in  Hancock  County,  Tenn.,  directly 
in  the  path  of  ancient  westward  emigration.  Dan  Boon  tramped  all  over  this  immediate  section.  .  .  . 
The  Malungeons,  drifting  with  the  tide  of  early  emigration,  stranded  on  the  borderland  of  the  wilderness 
and  remained  there." 

2  Smith's  Works,  Arber's  edition,  1884,  pp.  17-23.    See  map  on  p.  83. 


INDIANS   OP    NOETH    CAEOLINA.  63 

Dasamonguepeuk  is  called  Pananiock,  and  the  legend  placed  there 
says:  "Here  the  king  of  Paspahege  reported  our  men  to  be  &  wants 
to  go."  x4.t  a  pomt  on  the  James  the  map  says:  "Here  Paspehege 
and  2  of  our  men  la,nded  to  go  to  Panaweock."  This  expedition  set 
out  in  January  or  February,  1608,  and  failed  because  the  Indian 
king  played  the  villain. 

The  managers  of  the  Virginia  Company  in  their  "True  and  Sincere 
Declaration,"  referring  to  the  Roanoke  colony,  say:  "if  with  these 
[evils]  we  compare  the  advantages  which  we  have  gotten  ...  in 
the  intelligence  of  some  of  our  nation  planted  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
yet  a  live,  within  fifty  mile  of  our  fort,  who  can  open  the  womb  and 
bowels  of  this  country;  as  is  testified  by  two  of  our  colony  sent  out 
to  seek  them,  who  (though  denied  by  the  savages  speech  with  them) 
found  crosses  and  Letters  the  Characters  and  assured  Testimonies  of 
Christians  newly  cut  in  the  barks  of  trees. "^ 

Strachey  says :  At  Peccarecamek  and  Ochanahoen  .  .  .  the  people 
have  houses  built  with  stone  walls,  and  one  story  above  another,  so 
taught  them  by  those  EngHsh  who  escaped  the  slaughter  at  Roanoak, 
at  what  time  this  our  colony,  under  the  conduct  of  Captain  Newport, 
landed  within  the  Chesapeake  Bay."  Powhatan  had  been  instigated 
to  this  massacre  by  his  priests.  Seven  persons  escaped,  four  men, 
two  boys,  and  a  young  maid.  These  fiecl  up  the  Chowan  River  and 
were  preserved  at  Ritanoe  by  a  chief  named  Eyanoco,  and,  in  return 
for  protection,  began  to  teach  the  savages  the  arts  of  civilized  life.^ 

We  are  to  remember  always  that  the  reports  of  Indians  are  vague 
and  indefinite.  This  is  to  be  expected  of  an  uneducated  people,  but 
while  varying  in  detail  the  substance  may  be  depended  on  as  essen- 
tially true.  The  vagueness  in  these  cases  is  further  increased  by  the 
fact  that  the  Enghsh  knew  httle  from  actual  exploration  of  the 
regions  involved.  We  are  safe  then  in  identifying:  (1)  Smith's  Pana- 
wicke  with  the  Pananiock  and  the  Pananeock  of  the  map.  This  is 
the  name  given  to  the  territory  known  to  the  earher  explorers  as 
Dasamonguepeuk.  (2)  The  Ochanahonan  and  Ocamahowan  of 
Smith  and  the  Ocanahowan  of  the  map  are  identical  with  Strachey's 
Ochanahoen.  (3)  The  Pakrakanick  of  the  map  is  identical  with 
Strachey's  Peccarecamek. 

Taking  these  sources  of  information  together  and  identifying  the 
localities  as  we  have  done,  it  seems  reasonable  to  conclude:  (1)  That 
about  1607  the  colonists  left  on  Roanoke  Island  in  1587,  now  inter- 
mixed with  the  Croatan  Indians,  were  on  the  peninsula  of  Dasa- 
monguepeuk and  that  fresh  traces  of  them  were  seen  about  this  time 
by  explorers  sent  out  from  Jamestown.  (2)  That  they  heard  of  the 
arrival  of  Captain  Newport  in  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  that  some  of 
them  made  an  effort  to  reach  the  colony  at  Jamestown.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  suppose  that  there  was  a  general  migration  of  the  whole 
Croatan  tribe  toward  the  Chowan.  We  may  conclude  that  most  of 
the  original  colonists  who  were  then  alive  and  some  of  the  half-breeds 
undertook  the  journey.     They  were  met  with  hostility  by  the  emis- 

1  Brown,  Genesis  ol  the  United  States,  i.,  348. 

2 Strachey,  pp.  50,  IS5.  The  expression  used  by  Strachey  with  reference  to  the  colony  on  page  152, 
where  he  says  it  will  Ite  related  "in  due  place  in  this  decade,"  indicates  that  he  had  some  additional  infor- 
mation in  regard  to  their  fate,  but  it  was  not  given. 


64  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

saries  of  Powhatan  and  some  were  slain. ^  (3)  That  others  were  pro- 
tected and  saved  by  a  chief  named  Eyanoco,  who  was  probably 
connected  in  some  way  with  the  Croatan  tribe,  for  we  must  remember 
that  when  Lane  was  exploring  these  regions  in  1586  he  found  Indians 
whose  language  Manteo  could  understand  without  an  interpreter. 
(4)  That  according  to  the  map  they  traveled  from  the  region  of  the 
Chowan  and  Roanoke  Rivers  to  the  country  known  on  it  as  Pack- 
rakanick  and  to  Strachey  as  Peccarecamek.  This  was  probably  on 
the  upper  waters  of  the  Neuse,  in  what  may  now  be  Wayne  and 
Lenoir  Counties.  It  is  probable  that  they  were  rejoined  by  those 
who  had  not  undertaken  the  expedition  toward  Virginia,  and  from 
this  point  they  could  have  passed  easily  into  Sampson  and  Robeson 
Counties  in  conformity  with  their  traditions,  as  related  by  Mr. 
McMillan. 

Smith's  "Relation,"  the  map,  and  Strachey  all  tend  to  strengthen 
and  explain  the  testimony  of  the  next  historical  reference  we  have  to 
the  tribe.  This  is  by  John  Lederer,  a  German,  who  made  some 
explorations  in  eastern  North  Carolina,  perhaps  in  the  region  south 
of  the  Roanoke  River,  in  1669-70.  He  mentions  a  powerful  nation 
of  bearded  men  two  and  one-half  days'  journey  to  the  southwest, 
''which  I  suppose  to  be  the  Spaniards,  because  the  Indians  never 
have  any"  [beards].^  Dr.  Hawks  thinks  that  these  "bearded  men" 
may  have  been  the  settlers  on  the  Cape  Fear,  but  we  know  that  this 
colony  was  disbanded  in  1667.  We  have  no  records  of  any  Spanish 
settlements  as  far  north  as  this;  and  according  to  Mr.  McMillan 
(p.  20),  the  mongrel  tribe  now  known  as  Croatan  Indians  were  occu- 
pying their  present  homes  as  early  as  1650.  The  statement  of  Lederer 
can  only  refer  to  the  Croatan  tribe. 

The  next  account  we  have  of  them  is  in  1704,  when  Rev.  John 
Blair,  then  traveling  as  a  missionary  through  the  Albemarle  settle- 
ments, tells  of  a  powerful  tribe  of  Indians  living  to  the  south  of  what 
is  now  Albemarle  Sound,  "computed  to  be  no  less  than  100,000, 
many  of  which  live  amongst  the  English,  and  all,  as  I  can  understand, 
a  very  civilized  people."  ^  This  account  is  very  vague  and  indefinite, 
and  the  numbers  are  largely  overestimated;  but  it  can  refer  to  no 
other  tribe  than  the  Croatans.  They  were  then  living  southwest  of 
Pamlico  Sound  and  they  alone  had  had  civilized  influences  to  bear 
upon  them. 

The  next  reference  to  the  tribe  is  more  definite.  John  Lawson, 
the  first  historian  of  North  Carolina,  explored  all  the  region  southwest 
of  Pamlico  Sound.  He  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  Indians 
in  those  sections.  In  writing  of  the  Roanoke  settlements  he  says: 
"A  farther  confirmation  of  this  [the  settlements  of  Raleigh]  we  have 
from  the  Hatteras  (Croatan)  Indians,  who  lived  on  Ronoack  Island, 
or  much  frequented  it.  These  tell  us  that  several  of  their  ancestors 
were  white  people  and  could  talk  in  a  book  as  we  do;  the  truth  of 
which  is  confirmed  by  gray  eyes  being  frequently  found  amongst  these 
Indians  and  no  others.     They  value  themselves  extremely  for  their 

1  Purchas  says  Powhatan  confessed  to  Smith  that  he  had  been  present  at  the  slaughter  of  the  English. 
But  this  account  did  not  seem  satisfactory  to  Smith,  for  he  says  in  his  condensation  of  White's  narrative 
for  his  General  History  of  Virginia:  "And  thus  we  left  seeking  our  colony,  that  was  never  any  of  them 
found  or  seen  to  this  day,  1622."  This  shows  that  Strachey's  account  was  not  known  in  1609,  when  Smith 
had  given  up  the  search  and  returned  to  England. — Ajber's  edition,  1884,  p.  331. 

>  Hawks,  History  of  North  Carolina,  ii,  50. 

3  Colonial  Records  of  North  Carolina,  i,  603. 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  65 

aflflnity  to  the  English,  and  are  ready  to  do  them  all  friendly  offices. 
It  is  probable  that  this  settlement  miscarried  for  want  of  timely  sup- 
pHes  from  England;  or  through  the  treachery  of  the  natives,  for  we 
may  reasonably  suppose  that  the  Enghsh  were  forced  to  cohabit  with 
them  for  rehef  and  conservation;  and  that  in  process  of  time  they 
conformed  themselves  to  the  manners  of  their  Indian  relations;  and 
thus  we  see  how  apt  human  nature  is  to  degenerate.'^  ^  Lawson 
wrote  these  words  not  later  than  1709,  as  his  book  was  first  pubhshed 
in  that  year.  It  is  impossible  for  the  story  told  by  him  to  be  a  tradi- 
tion not  founded  on  the  truth,  for  he  wrote  within  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years  of  the  original  settlements  at  Roanoke,  and  he  may  have 
talked  with  men  whose  grandfathers  had  been  among  the  original 
colonists. 

The  next  witnesses  in  this  chain  of  evidence  are  the  early  settlers 
in  the  Cape  Fear  section  of  North  Carolina.  Scotch  settlements 
were  made  in  Fayetteville  as  early  as  1715.^  In  1730  Scotchmen 
began  to  arrive  in  what  is  now  Richmond  County,  and  French 
Huguenots  were  at  the  same  time  pressing  up  from  South  Carohna. 
The  imiversal  tradition  among  the  descendants  of  these  settlers  is 
that  their  ancestors  found  a  large  tribe  of  Indians  located  on  Lumber 
River,  in  Robeson  County,  who  were  tilling  the  soil,  owning  slaves, 
and  speaking  English.  The  descendants  of  this  tribe  are  Imown  to 
be  the  Croatan  Indians  of  to-day. 

We  see,  then,  that  the  historical  arguments  which  tend  to  identify 
the  Croatans  of  to-day  as  the  descendants  of  the  colonists  of  1587 
possess  an  historical  continuity  from  1591  to  the  present  time. 
There  is  also  a  threefold  internal  argument  based  (1)  on  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  Croatan  Indians  of  to-day;  (2)  from  their  character  and 
disposition;  (3)  from  their  forms  of  language  and  family  names. 

I.  Traditions. — The  Croatan  Indians  believe  themselves  to  be  the 
descendants  of  the  colonists  of  1587,  and  boast  of  their  mixed  EngUsh 
and  Indian  blood.  They  always  refer  to  eastern  North  Carohna  as 
Virginia,  and  say  their  former  home  was  in  Roanoke,  in  Virginia, 
which  means  the  present  counties  of  Dare,  Tyrrell,  Hyde,  Craven, 
Carteret,  and  Jones,  and  of  this  residence  their  traditions  are  suffi- 
ciently clear.  They  say  that  they  held  communication  with  the 
east  long  after  their  removal  toward  the  west,  and  one  of  these 
parties  may  have  met  Lawson  about  1709.  They  know  that  one  of 
their  leaders  was  made  Lord  of  Roanoke  and  went  to  England,  but 
his  name  has  been  lost,  the  nearest  approach  to  it  being  in  the  forms 
Maino  and  Mainor.  They  have  a  word  "mayno,"  which  means  a 
very  quiet,  law-abiding  people;  and  this,  by  a  kind  of  metonomy, 
may  be  a  survival  of  Manteo.  When  an  old  chronicler  was  told  the 
story  of  Virginia  Dare  he  recognized  it,  but  her  name  is  preserved 
only  as  Darr,  Durr,  Dorr.  They  say  that,  according  to  their  tradi- 
tions, Mattamuskeet  Lake,  in  Hyde  County,  is  a  burnt  lake,  and  so 
it  is;  but  they  have  no  traditions  in  regard  to  Roanoke  River.  They 
say,  also,  that  some  of  the  earlier  settlers  intermarried  with  them, 
and  this  may  explain  the  presence  of  such  names  among  them  as 
Chavis  (Cheves),  Goins  (O'Guin),  Leary  (O'Leary). 

»  Lawson,  History  of  North  Carolina  (ed.  1860),  pp.  108, 109. 

«  A  house  pulled  down  on  Person  Street,  in  Fayetteville,  in  1889,  fixes  this  date.  This  places  the  first 
settlements  in  this  section  at  an  earUer  date  than  has  been  assigned  them  hitherto.  (H.  McMillan,  in  a 
letter  to  the  writer.) 

75321°— S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 5 


66  INDIANS    OF    NORTH    CAROLINA. 

II.  Character  and  disposition. — These  Indians  are  hospitable  to 
strangers  and  are  ever  ready  to  do  a  favor  for  the  white  people. 
They  show  a  fondness  for  gay  colors,  march  in  Indian  file,  live  retired 
from  highways,  never  forget  a  kindness,  an  injury,  nor  a  debt.  They 
are  the  best  of  friends  and  the  most  dangerous  of  enemies.  They  are 
reticent  until  their  confidence  is  gained,  and  when  aroused  are  perfect 
devils,  exhibiting  aU  the  hatred,  malice,  cunning,  and  endurance  of 
their  Indian  ancestors.^  At  the  same  time  they  are  remarkably  clean 
in  their  habits,  a  characteristic  not  found  in  the  pure-blooded  Indian. 
Physicians  who  practice  among  them  say  they  never  hesitate  to  sleep 
or  eat  in  the  house  of  a  Croatan.  They  are  also  great  road  builders, 
something  unknown  to  the  savage.  They  have  some  of  the  best 
roads  in  the  State,  and  by  this  means  connect  their  more  distant  set- 
tlements with  those  on  Lumber  River.  One  of  these,  the  Lowrie 
road,  has  been  open  for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  and  is  still  in  use. 
It  extends  southwest  from  Fayetteville,  through  Cumberland  and 
Eobeson  counties,  to  a  settlement  on  the  Pee  Dee.  It  was  over  this 
road  that  a  special  courier  bore  to  General  Jackson  in  1815  the  news 
of  the  treaty  of  Ghent. 

III.  Language  and  Family  Names.  The  speech  of  the  Croatansis 
very  pure  English;  no  classical  terms  are  used.  It  differs  from  that 
of  the  whites  and  from  that  of  the  blacks  among  whom  they  live. 
They  have  preserved  many  forms  in  good  use  three  hundred  years 
ago,  but  which  are  now  obsolete  in  the  written  language  and  are  found 
only  in  colloquial  and  dialectical  English.  They  drawl  the  penult  or 
final  syllable  in  every  sentence.  They  begin  their  salutations  with 
"mon-n-n,"  which  means  man.  This  seems  to  be  frequently  used 
much  in  the  sense  of  the  German  mann  sagt,  or  the  French  on  dit, 
their  traditions  usually  beginning:  ''Mon,  my  fayther  told  me  that 
his  fayther  told  him,"  etc.  They  retain  the  parasitic  (glide)  y,  which 
was  an  extremely  common  development  in  Anglo-Saxon,  in  certain 
words  through  the  palatal  influence  of  the  previous  consonant, 
pronouncing  cow  as  cy-ow,  cart  as  cy-art,  card  as  c^-ard,  girl  as  gy-irl, 
kind  as  ky-ind.  The  voiceless  form  wliing  is  retained  instead  of  the 
voiced  wing.  They  have  but  two  sounds  for  a,  the  short  a  being 
changed  into  o  before  nasals  and  representing  Anglo-Saxon  open  o 
in  mon.  They  use  the  northern  lovand  in  place  of  the  later  hybrid 
loving.     The    Irish  fayther    is    found    for    father.     The    dialectical 

1  A  fearful  illustration  of  this  spirit  was  shown  in  the  career  of  Henry  Berry  Lowrie,  "the  great  North 
Carolina  bandit."  In  February,  1864,  the  Home  Guard  of  Robeson  County  found  Allen  and  William 
Lowrie,  the  father  and  brother  of  Henry  Berry,  guilty  of  receiving  stolen  goods,  tried  them  by  court-martial 
and  executed  them  under  military  law.  The  execution  awakened  the  desire  for  revenge  in  the  remaining 
brothers,  and  under  the  leadership  of  Henry  Berry  Lowrie  they  defied  for  ten  years  the  authority  of  the 
county,  the  State,  the  Confederacy,  and  the  United  States.  They  killed  the  best  men  in  the  section,  some 
lor  plimder,  some  for  revenge,  and  some  in  self-defense.  Henry  Berry  Lowrie  was  twenty-six  at  the  time  of 
his  death,  and  in  physique  was  aperfect  Apollo.  His  countenance  expressed  the  highest  degree  of  firmness 
courage,  and  decision  of  character.  His  forehead  was  high,  broad,  and  massive;  his  eyes  were  a  grayisli 
hazel,  his  hair  was  straight  and  black,  his  chest  was  deep  and  broad;  he  was  five  feet  ten  inches  high 
weighed  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  and  was  as  elastic  as  rubber.  He  was  always  completely  armed; 
in  a  belt  he  carried  five  long-range,  six-barreled  revolvers;  a  Henry  rifle  carrying  sixteen  cartridges  was 
suspended  at  his  back;  a  long  knife  and  a  double-barreled  shotgim  were  found  in  his  hands.  His  armament 
weighed  not  less  than  eighty  pounds,  but  with  it  he  could  run,  swim,  bear  weeks  of  exposure  in  the  swamps, 
and  travel  by  day  and  by  night  to  an  extent  which  would  have  killed  a  white  man  or  negro.  He  slept  on 
his  arms,  never  seemed  tired,  and  was  never  taken  by  surprise.  During  his  long  career  of  outlawry  he 
was  never  untrue  to  a  promise,  never  committed  arson,  nor  insulted  a  white  woman.  A  reward  of  ten 
thousand  dollars  was  placed  on  his  head;  he  was  hunted  by  night  and  by  day,  but  eluded  all  his  pursuers, 
and  perished  on  Feb.  20,  1872,  from  the  accidental  discharge  of  his  gim.  After  the  death  of  the  chief  the 
band  lost  much  of  the  terror  of  its  name,  and  two  years  later  the  last  outlaw  was  slain.  ( Cf.  The  Lowrie 
History,  as  Acted  in  Part  by  Henry  Berry  Lowrie,  the  Great  North  Carolina  Bandit,  with  Biographical 
Sketches  of  his  Associates,  by  Mrs.  Mary  C.  Norment,  Wilmington,  1875.  This  book  was  viritten  by 
Joseph  B.  McCallum;  the  chapter  on  the  genealogy  of  the  tribe  is  "notoriously  unreliable";  it  makes  them 
all  descendants  of  James  Lowrie,  who  came  to  Robeson  County  from  Virginia  in  1769.) 


INDIANS   OF   NOETH    CAROLINA.  67 

J  earns  is  found  in  place  of  James.  They  regularly  use  mon  for  man; 
mension  for  measurement;  ales  for  ask;  hit  for  it;  Jiosen  for  hose; 
Tiousen  for  houses;  crone  is  to  push  down  and  wit  means  knowledge.^ 

The  strongest  evidence  of  all  is  furnished  us  by  the  family  names 
of  the  Croatan  Indians  of  to-day.  John  White,  in  his  account  of  the 
settlement  of  1587,  has  left  us  "the  names  of  all  the  men,  women, 
and  children  which  safely  arrived  in  Virginia  and  remained  to  inhabit 
there."  These  settlers  were  one  hundred  and  seventeen  in  number, 
and  had  ninety-five  different  surnames;  out  of  these  surnames  forty- 
one,  or  more  than  forty-three  per  cent,  including  such  names  as 
Dare,  Cooper,  Stevens,  Sampson,  Harvie,  Howe,  Cage,  Willes, 
Gramme,  Viccars,  Berry,  Chapman,  Lasie,  and  Chevin,  which  a.re 
now  rarely  met  with  in  North  CaroUna,  are  reproduced  by  a  tribe 
living  hundreds  of  miles  from  Roanoke  Island,  and  after  a  lapse  of 
three  hundred  years.^  The  chroniclers  of  the  tribe  say  that  the 
Dares,  the  Coopers,  the  Harvies,  and  others  retained  their  purity  of 
blood  and  were  generally  the  pioneers  in  emigration.  And  still  more 
remarkable  evidence  is  furnished  us  by  the  fact  that  the  traditions 
of  every  family  bearing  the  name  of  one  of  the  lost  colonists  point 
to  Roanoke  Island  as  the  home  of  their  ancestors. 

To  summarize:  Smith  and  Strachey  heard  that  the  colonists  of 
1587  were  still  alive  about  1607.  They  were  then  living  on  the  pen- 
insula of  Dasamonguepeuk,  whence  they  traveled  toward  the  region 
of  the  Chowan  and  Roanoke  Rivers.  From  this  point  they  traveled 
toward  the  southwest  and  settled  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Neuse. 
John  Lederer  heard  of  them  in  this  direction  in  1670,  and  remarked 
on  their  beards,  which  were  never  worn  by  full-blooded  Indians. 
Rev.  John  Blair  heard  of  them  in  1704.  John  Lawson  met  some  of 
the  Croatan  Indians  about  1709  and  was  told  that  their  ancestors 
were  white  men.  White  settlers  came  into  the  middle  section  of 
North  Carolina  as  early  as  1715  and  found  the  ancestors  of  the  pres- 
ent tribe  of  Croatan  Indians  tilling  the  soil,  holding  slaves,  and 
speaking  English.  The  Croatans  of  to-day  claim  descent  from  the  lost 
colony.  Their  habits,  disposition,  and  mental  characteristics  show 
traces  both  of  Indian  and  Eiu-opean  ancestry.  Their  language  is  the 
English  of  three  hundred  years  ago,  and  their  names  are  in  many 
cases  the  same  as  those  borne  by  the  original  colonists.  No  other 
theory  of  their  origin  has  been  advanced,  and  it  is  confidently  believed 
that  the  one  here  proposed  is  logically  and  historically  the  best,  sup- 
ported as  it  is  both  by  external  and  internal  evidence.  If  this  theory 
is  rejected,  then  the  critic  must  explain  in  some  other  way  the  origin 
of  a  people  which,  after  the  lapse  of  three  hundred  years,  show  the 
characteristics,  speak  the  language,  and  possess  the  family  names  of 
the  second  English  colony  planted  in  the  western  world. 

1  The  student  of  language  will  be  interested  in  a  paper  on  Early  English  Survivals  on  Hatteras 
Island,  published  by  Prof.  Collier  Cobb,  in  which  he  points  out  the  persistence  of  obsolete  forms  of  speech 
Btill  found  among  the  "bankers  "  of  the  North  Carolina  coast  and  suggests  that  these  people  may  themselves 
be  connected  with  the  Lost  Colonj'. 

2  Dr.  Hawks  reprints  (History  of  North  Carolina,  i.,  211,  from  Hakluyt)  this  list  of  names.  Mr 
McMillan  has  compared  it  with  the  names  of  the  Croatans,  and,  according  to  his  authority,  those  writtei 
below  in  italics  are  now  found  among  the  Croatans.    See  p.  54. 


68  INDIANS   OP    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY   OF   THE    LOST    COLONY. 

Baxter,  James  Phinney. — Raleigh's  Lost  Colony.  New  England  Magazine,  Jan., 
1895,  V,  565-587.     ills. 

Burnett,  Swan  M.,  M.  D. — ^A  note  on   the  Melungeons.     Amer.  Anthropologist, 
Oct.,  1889. 
Also  as  separate,  pp.  3. 

Cobb,  Collier. — Early  English  SurAdvals  on  Hatteras  Island.     North  Carolina  Book- 
let, Oct.,  1914,  xiv,  91-99. 
There  are  also  various  other  earlier  editions. 

Dromgoole,  Miss  Will  Allen. — The  Malungeons.  Arena  March,  1891.  iii, 
470-479.     ill. 

An  unsympathetic  article  giving  some  account  of  their  history,  maimers,  and  customs. 
The  Malungeon  tree  and  its  four  branches.     Arena,  May,  1891,  iii,     745-751'. 

Historical  and  genealogical. 

McMillan,  Hamilton. — Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  Lost  Colony.  An  historical  sketch  of 
the  attempts  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  to  establish  a  colony  in  Virginia  with  the  tra- 
ditions of  an  Indian  tribe  in  North  Carolina  indicating  the  fate  of  the  colony  of 
Englishmen  left  on  Roanoke  Island  in  1587.     Wilson,  N.  C,  1888.     D.     pp.  29. 

Same.     Revised  edition.     Raleigh  [1907.].     0.     pp.  46. 

The  Croatans.     North  Carolina  Booklet,  Jan.,  1911,  x,  115-121. 

Melton,  Frances  Jones. — Croatans:  the  lost  colony  of  America.  Mid-Continent 
Magazine,  July,  1895,  vi,  195-202.    ills. 

NoRMENT,  Mrs.  Mart  C. — The  Lowrie  history.     Wilmington,  1875.     O.    pp.  161. 
Written  by  Joseph  B.  McCallum. 

Reprinted  in  Charlotte  (N.  C.)  Sunday  Observer,  March  19,  26,  April  2,  9,  16,  23,  30,  May  7,  14,  21, 
28,  June  i,  11,  1905. 

Another  edition,  Weldon,  N.  C,  c.  1895.     D.     pp.  140, 

—  Another  edition.     Lumberton,  N.  C,  1909.     pp.  192. 

Contains  article  on  the  subject  of  the  Croatans  first  published  by  Col.  F.  A.  Olds  about  1887. 

Perry,  Wm.  Stevens. — The  first  Christian  born  in  Virginia.  Iowa  Churchman, 
Jan.  and  Feb.,  1893. 

TowNSEND,  George  Alfred  (Gath).     The  Swamp  Outlaws:  or,  the  North  Carolina 
bandits.     New  York  [1872].     0.     pp.  [2]+]9]— 84.     ills. 
A  catch-penny  reissue  of  letters  sent  to  the  New  York  Herald. 

Weeks,  Stephen  B. — -Raleigh's  Settlements  on  Roanoke  Island.  An  historical 
survival.     Magazine  of  American  History,  Feb.,  1891,  xxv,  127-139,  2  ills. 

— — The  Lost  Colony  of  Roanoke:  Its  fate  and  survival.  Papers  of  the  American 
Historical  Association,  1891.     v,  439-480. 

• •  Same  article  reprinted  as  separate.     New  York,  1891.     0.    pp.  42. 

Same  article  summarized  in  Annual  Report  of  American  Historical  Association, 

1890,  97-98. 

Arguments  of  the  article  reprinted  in  Tom   Watson's  Jeffersonian  Magazine, 

July,  1911,  xiii,  192-201. 

Wilson,  E.  Y. — Lost  Colony  of  Roanoke.     Canadian  Magazine,  April,  1895,  iv,  500. 


EXHIBIT  CCC 
EXTRACT  FROM  HISTORY   OF   NORTH  CAROLINA. 

[By  Samuel  A'Court  Ashe.] 

Chapter  I. 

REFERENCES   TO   THE   COLONY,    1591-1709. 


Whereas  as  I  wrote  unto  yow  in  my  last  that  I  was  goun  to 
Weymouth  to  speak  with  a  pinnes  of  mine  arrived  from  Virginia, 
I  found  this  bearer,  Captayne  Gilbert,  ther  also,  who  went  on  the 
same  voyage.  But  myne  fell  40  leaugs  to  the  west  of  it,  and  this 
bearer  as  much  to  the  east;  so  as  neither  of  them  spake  with  the 
peopell.  But  I  do  sende  both  the  barks  away  agayne,  having  saved 
the  charg  in  sarsephraze  woode;  but  this  bearer  bringing  sume 
2200  waight  to  Hampton,  his  adventurers  have  taken  away  their 
parts  and  brought  it  to  London.  I  do  therefore  humblie  pray  yow 
to  deal  withe  my  Lord  Admirale  for  a  letter  to  make  seasure  of  all 
that  which  is  come  to  London,  either  by  his  Lordship's  octoretye 
or  by  the  Judge:  because  I  have  a  patent  that  all  shipps  and  goods 
are  confiscate  that  shall  trade  their  without  my  leve.  And  whereas 
Sassaphraze  was  worth  10s.,  12s.  and  20s.  per  pound  before  Gilbert 
returned,  his  cloying  of  the  market,  will  overthrow  all  myne  and 
his  own  also.  He  is  contented  to  have  all  stayde:  not  only  for  this 
present;  but  being  to  go  agayne,  others  will  also  go  and  destroy  the 
trade,  which  otherwise  would  yield  8  or  10  for  one,  in  certainty  and 
a  return  in  XX  weeks.  *  *  *  Letter  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  to 
Sir  Robert  Cecil.     Aug.  21,  1602      Edwards'  Life  of  Raleigh,  II,  25L) 

I  beseich  yow,  favor  our  right:  and  yow  shall  see  what  a  prety, 
honorabell  and  sauf  trade  wee  will  make. 
Yours  ever  to  serve  yow, 

W.  Ralegh. 

[WUliam  Strachey  was  secretary  of  the  colony  of  Virginia,  and 
his  "Historic  of  Travaile  into  Virginia  Britannia"  was  apparently 
written  after  the  colony  had  been  seated  at  Jamestown  six  years — 
in  1613.] 

The  men,  women  and  children  of  the  first  plantation  at  Roanoke 
were  by  practize  and  commandment  of  Powhatan  (he  himself 
persuaded  thereunto  by  his  priests)  miserably  slaughtered,  without 
any  offense  given  him,  either  by  the  first  planted  (who  twenty  and 
od  years  had  peaceably  lyved  intermyxed  with  those  Savages  and 
were  out  of  his  territory)  or  by  those  who  nowe  are  come  to  inhabit 
some  parte  of  his  desarte  lands.  (1613.  William  Strachey's 
Travaile  into  Virginia,  85.) 


70  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Southward  they  [Newport's  exploring  party]  went  to  some  parts 
of  Chowanook  and  the  Mangoangs,  to  search  there  those  left  by 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  which  parts  —to  the  towne  of  Chesepeak — hath 
formerly  been  discovered  by  Mr.  Harriott  and  Sir  Ralph  Lane. 

The  high  land  is  in  all  likelihoodes,  a  pleasant  tract,  and  the 
mould  fruitful,  especially  what  may  lye  to  the  Southward,  where 
at  Peccarecamek  and  Ochanahoen  by  the  relation  of  Machumps,^  the 
people  have  houses  built  with  stone  walls,  and  one  story  above 
another,  so  taught  them  by  the  English  who  escaped  the  slaughter  at 
Roanoke,  at  which  time  this  our  Colony,  under  the  conduct  of  Captain 
Newport,  landed  within  the  Chesepeake  Bay,  where  the  people  breed 
up  tame  turkeys  about  their  houses,  and  take  apes  in  the  mountains, 
and  where  at  Ritanoc  the  Weroance  Eyanoco  preserved  seven  of  the 
English  alive,  four  men,  and  two  boys  and  one  young  mayde  (who 
escaped  and  fled  up  the  river  of  Choanook)  to  beat  his  copper,  etc. 
(Strachey,  26.) 

[Powhatan]  seems  to  command  south  and  north  from  the  IVTango- 
angs  and  Chowanoaks,  bordering  upon  Roanoke  and  the  old  Virginia, 
a  town  pallisadode  standing  at  the  north  end  of  the  bay.  (Strachey, 
48.) 

He  doth  often  send  unto  us  to  temporize  with  us,  awaiting  perhaps 
a  fit  opportunity  (mflamed  by  his  furious  and  bloody  priests)  to 
offer  us  a  taste  of  the  same  cup  which  he  made  our  poor  countrymen 
drink  of  at  Roanoke. 

[In  "The  True  and  Sincere  Declaration"  made  by  the  governor 
and  councillors  of  the  Jamestown  settlement  in  December,  1609 — 
they  speak  of  having]  intelligence  of  some  of  our  nation  planted 
by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  yet  alive,  within  fifty  miles  of  our  fort,  who 
can  open  the  womb  and  bowels  of  this  country;  as  is  testified  by 
two  of  our  Colony  sent  out  to  seek  them,  who  (though  denied  by 
the  savages  speech  with  them)  found  Crosses  and  Letters,  the  Char- 
acters and  assured  Testimonies  of  Christians,  newly  cut  in  the  barks 
of  trees..     (Brown's  Genesis,  I,  349.) 

[The  discovery  of  these  characters  recently  cut  in  the  barlcs  of 
trees  at  that  time  locates  some  of  Raleigh's  colony  within  fifty  miles 
of  Jamestown  in  1608.     The  narrative  continues:] 

What  he  knew  of  the  Dominions,  he  spared  not  to  acquaint  me 
with,  as  of  certain  men  cloathed  at  a  place  called  Ochanahonan, 
cloathed  like  me. 

[And  again:]  We  had  agreed  with  the  King  of  Paspehegh  to  con- 
duct two  of  our  men  to  a  place  called  Panawicke,  beyond  Roanoke 
wliere  he  reported  many  men  to  be  apparelled.  We  landed  him  at 
Warraskoyack,  where  playing  the  villain  and  deluding  us  for  rewarde, 
returned  within  three  or  four  days  after,  without  going  further. 

[Smith  sent  from  Warraskoyack,  Master  Scitlemore  and  two  guides 
to  seek  for  the  Lost  Colony  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  (Smith's  True 
Relation.) 

Alexander  Brown  has  found  and  embodied  in  his  work  a  rude 
drawing  sent  by  Francis  Nelson  from  Virginia  in  1608  to  illustrate 
Smith's  "True  Relation,"  and  the  same  year  sent  to  Spain  from 
London.      (Brown's  Genesis,  I,  184.     February,  1608.) 

lAn  Indian  of  Powhatan's  tribe  who  had  been  to  England. 


INDIANS   OP    NORTH   CAROLINA.  71 

On  this  map,  on  the  Chowan,  or  on  the  Nottoway,  faUing  mto  the 
Chowan  River,  Ochanahonan  is  placed:  and  on  the  Tar,  or  upper 
Pamhco  River,  " Pakrakanick "  is  located:  and  near  it  is  a  legend: 
"Here  remayneth  4  men  clothed  that  came  from  Roanoak  to  Ochana- 
honan." Between  the  Chowan  and  the  Moratoc  (Roanoke  River) 
on  this  map  is  a  legend:  "Here  the  King  of  Paspehegh  reported  our 
men  to  be,  and  wants  to  go."  And  that  region  is  marked  "Pananiock." 

On  the  map,  the  point  Warraskoyack,  from  which  Master  Scitle- 
more  and  two  guides  started,  and  where  Smith  landed  "the  King 
of  Paspehegh  to  conduct  two  of  our  men  to  a  place  called  Pana- 
wicke,  beyond  Roanoke,"  is  on  a  stream  that  probably  is  intended 
to  represent  Nansemond  River.     (December,  1608.) 

This  map  was  drawn  on  the  relation  of  some  Indian.  The  Indians 
of  the  James  River  had  no  connection  with  those  farther  south. 
Powhatan's  jurisdiction  did  not  extend  over  the  Chowanists  or  the 
Mongoaks.  The  Indian  who  gave  the  information  on  which  the 
drawing  was  based  probably  had  but  little  familiarity  with  the 
localities,  knowing  about  the  rivers  but  nothing  of  the  coast.  He 
loiew  that  the  first  river  was  the  Chowan  and  its  tributaries;  that 
the  next  was  the  Moratoc,  and  that  farther  on  there  was  a  third — 
the  Tar.  He  probably  knew  nothing  of  the  sounds.  He  placed  the 
chief  to^vn  of  the  Chowan  Indians  on  the  northeast  side  of  the  Chowan 
River,  and  Ochanahonan  on  the  other  side.  It  seems  to  the  author 
of  this  work  that  Ochanahonan  is  probably  the  town  called  by 
Lane  Ohanoak.  On  DeBry's  map  this  town  is  placed  above  the  town 
of  Chowanoak,  but  in  Lane's  narrative  it  is  located  below  that  town. 

The  Indian  account  places  Pananiock,  where  White's  colony  set- 
tled, between  the  Moratoc  and  the  Chowan  rivers,  but  as  the  Indian 
was  probably  not  acquainted  with  the  waters  of  the  sound,  and  only 
knew  that  the  Moratoc  discharged  itself  some  distance  below  the 
Chowan,  he  inaccurately  indicates  that  both  emptied  into  the  ocean. 
In  that  he  was  mistaken;  but  he  probably  was  correct  in  locating 
the  settlement  north  of  the  Moratoc  River.  It  was  between  the 
mouth  of  the  Moratoc  and  the  Chowan  that  Lane  observed  the 
"goodly  highlands,"  and  that  location  being  substantially  "fifty  miles 
in  the  interior"  from  Roanoke  Island,  it  is  there  we  would  expect  to 
find  the  place  of  permanent  settlement.  And  it  is  there  that  the 
Indian  relation  places  it. 

After  the  massacre,  "four  men  and  two  boys  and  one  young 
mayde"  escaped  and  fled  up  the  river  of  Chowanoak,  and  were 
preserved  by  the  Weroance  at  Ritanoe.  This  flight  could  have  been 
readily  made  from  a  point  north  of  the  Moratoc  River.  It  is  also 
stated  that  four  men  came  to  Ochanahonan.  If  there  were  still  other 
fugitives  than  those  preserved  at  Ritanoe,  their  journey  through 
the  woods  would  also  indicate  that  Pananiock  was  on  the  north  of 
the  Moratoc] 

LAWSON's    SUGGESTIONS. 

The  first  discovery  and  settlement  of  this  country  was  by  the 
procurement  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  in  conjunctton  with  some  public 
spirited  gentlemen  of  that  age,  under  the  protection  of  Queen 
Elizabeth;  for  which  reason  it  was  then  named  Virginia,  which 
begun  on  that  part  caUed  Roanoke  Island,  where  the  ruins  of  a 


72  INDIANS   OF    NOETH   CAROLINA. 

fort  are  to  be  seen  at  this  day  as  well  as  some  old  English  coins 
which  have  been  lately  found,  and  a  brass  gun,  a  powder  horn  and 
one  small  quarter-deck  gun  made  of  iron  staves,  which  method 
of  making  guns  might  very  probably  be  made  use  of  in  those  days 
for  the  convenience  of  infant  colonies.  (Lawson's  History  of  North 
Carolina,  108.) 

A  further  confirmation  of  this  we  have  from  the  Hatteras  Indians 
who  either  then  lived  on  Roanoke  Island  or  much  frequented  it. 
These  tell  us  that  several  of  their  ancestors  were  white  people  and 
could  talk  in  a  book  as  we  do:  the  truth  of  which  is  confirmed  by 
gray  eyes  being  found  frequently  amongst  these  Indians  and  no 
others. 

They  value  themselves  extremely  for  their  affinity  to  the  Enghsh 
and  are  ready  to  do  them  all  friendly  offices.  It  is  probable  that  this 
settlement  miscarried  for  want  of  timely  supplies  from  England, 
or  through  the  treachery  of  the  natives:  for  we  may  reasonably 
suppose  that  the  English  were  forced  to  cohabit  with  them  for  rehef 
and  conversation:  and  that  in  process  of  time,  they  conformed 
themselves  to  the  manners  of  their  Indian  relations;  and  thus  we 
see  how  apt  human  nature  is  to  degenerate. 

THE    HATTERAS    INDIANS. 

[The  Hatteras  Indians  in  1585  were  not  under  the  same  govern- 
ment as  the  savages  on  the  mainland.  They  were  a  different  tribe; 
and  they  were  so  few  in  numbers  and  so  poor  that  when  Lane  was 
making  a  counterplot  against  Pemisapan  and  pretended  that  he  was 
going  to  make  a  journey  to  Croatoan,  he  asked  to  be  furnished 
with  men  to  hunt  for  him  while  there,  and  with  four  days'  pro- 
visions to  last  during  his  stay.  No  subsistence  could  be  gotten 
from  the  Croatoans.  A  century  later,  in  Lawson's  time,  that  tribe 
had  but  sixteen  fighting  men,  and  even  if  all  of  these  had  a  strain  of 
English  blood  in  them,  their  white  ancestors  might  have  been  but 
a  very  small  fraction  of  the  English  colonists.  The  tribe  was  stiU 
further  reduced  during  the  Indian  War  of  1711-15,  when  it 
adhered  to  the  EngUsh.  It  fingered  about  its  old  home,  suffering 
the  fate  of  other  smaU  tribes,  graduaUy  becoming  extinct.  In  1763 
some  of  the  Hatteras  and  Mattamuskeet  Indians  were  still  living  on 
the  coast  of  Hyde,  where  a  reservation  had  been  set  apart  for  them. 
Because  names  borne  by  some  of  the  colonists  have  been  found 
among  a  mixed  race  in  Robeson  County,  now  caUed  Croatans,  an 
inference  has  been  drawn  that  there  was  some  connection  between 
them.  (C.  R.,  VI,  995.)  It  is  highly  improbable  that  Engfish 
names  would  have  been  preserved  among  a  tribe  of  savages  beyond 
the  second  generation,  there  being  no  communication  except  with 
other  savages.  If  English  names  had  existed  among  the  Hatteras 
Indians  in  Lawson's  time,  he  probably  would  have  mentioned  it  as 
additional  evidence  corroborating  his  suggestion  deduced  from  some 
of  them  having  gray  eyes,  and  from  their  valuing  themselves  on  their 
affinity  to  the  English.  It  is  also  to  be  observed  that  nowhere 
among  the  Indians  were  found  houses  or  tified  lands  or  other  evi- 
dences of  improvement  on  the  customs  and  manners  of  the  aborigi- 
nes. When  this  mixed  race  was  first  observed  by  the  early  settlers 
of  the  upper  Cape  Fear,  about  1735,  it  is  said  that  they  spoke  English, 


INIHAFS  OP   NORTH   CAEOLINA.  73 

cultivated  land,  lived  in  substantial  houses,  and  otherwise  practised 
the  arts  of  civihzed  life,  being  in  these  respects  different  from  any 
Indian  tribe.  In  1754  they  were  described  as  being  on  "Drowning 
Creek,  on  the  head  of  Little  Peedee,  fifty  famihes,  a  mixed  crew,  a 
lawless  people,  possessed  the  lands  without  patent  or  paying  quit 
rents;  shot  a  surveyor  for  coming  to  view  vacant  lands,  being 
enclosed  in  great  swamps."  (C.  R.,  V,  161.)  From  that  time  to 
the  present  these  people  have  remained  in  their  settlement  on 
Drowning  Creek.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  in  1754  they  were  not 
considered  Indians,  for  the  railitary  officers  of  Bladen  County  par- 
ticularly  reported  that  there  were  no  Indians  in  that  county.  What- 
ever may  have  been  their  origin  and  the  origin  of  their  English 
names,  neither  their  names  nor  their  Enghsh  manners  and  customs 
could  have  been  perpetuated  from  the  time  of  the  Lost  Colony 
without  exciting  some  remark  on  the  part  of  explorers,  or  historians. 
Apparently  that  community  came  into  being  at  a  later  date.  Yet 
it  is  to  be  observed  that  many  persons  believe  them  to  be  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Lost  Colony;  and  the  Legislature  has  officially  designated 
them  as  "Croatans,"  and  has  treated  them  as  Indians.^] 


Chapter  III. 

lane's   colony,  1585-86. 

Lane's  colony. — ^Arrival  at  Wokokon. — Secotan  visited. — Aquascogoc  burned  by 
Grenville. — Disembarkation  at  Hattorask. — Settlement  at  Roanoke. — Fort 
Raleigh. — Explorations. — Manteo  friendly. — Wancbese  hostile. — The  peril  of 
famine. — Lane  penetrates  the  Chowanoak;  seizes  Skyco;  ascends  the  Moratoc. — 
Food  exhausted. — The  Indian  conspiracy. — The  hostiles  gather  at  Dasamonque- 
peuc. — Lane  strikes  a  blow  and  secures  safety. — The  arrival  of  Drake. — The 
departure  of  the  colonists. — Arrival  of  Grenville's  fleet. — Fifteen  men  left  to  hold 
possession. 

THE    FIRST    COLONY. 

Hastening  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  regal  domain  and  with  an 
eager  anticipation  of  rich  returns  from  his  commercial  dealings.  Sir 
Walter  now  prepared  a  second  expedition,  which  was  to  transport  a 
hundred  colonists  for  settlement  in  Virginia.  Provisions  were  col- 
lected for  a  year's  subsistence,  by  which  time  a  new  supply  was  to 
be  furnished.  The  colonists  were  to  be  under  the  authority  of  Ralph 
Lane,  as  governor,  who  was  chosen  for  this  important  post  because 
he  had  already  given  the  world  assurance  of  his  bravery,  capacity, 
and  resourcefulness.  Among  the  enterprising  men  of  that  day  he 
ranked  high  for  energy,  courage  and  versatile  powers.  Barlow,  who, 
years  before,  had  served  with  Raleigh  in  Flanders,  was  again  to  be 
with  the  party,  and  was  to  remain  in  Virginia  as  admiral;  while  Cav- 
endish, afterward  famous  as  a  bold  and  skillful  navigator,  Thomas 
Hariot,  highly  distinguished  as  a  mathematician  and  scientist,  and 
John  White,  whose  maps  and  admirable  sketches,  made  in  Virginia, 
are  still  extant,  and  who  was  deeply  interested  in  the  work  of  coloni- 
zation, were  likewise  members  of  the  company.  At  length,  the  prepa- 
rations being  completed,  a  fleet  of  seven  vessels,  all  smaU,  however, 

1  The  subject  of  the  connection  of  these  Croatans  with  the  colonists  has  been  ably  discussed  by  Mr, 
Hamilton  McMillan  and  by  Dr.  Stephen  B.  Weeks,  who  maintain  that  view  with  much  plausibility. 


74  IKDIAKS   OP   NOETH   CAEOLHSTA. 

and  capable  of  entering  the  inlets  of  the  Virginia  sounds,  under  the 
command  of  Sir  Richard  Grenville,  a  kinsman  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
and  famous  for  his  skill  and  bravery,  set  sail  from  Plymouth  on  April  9, 
1585.  After  various  adventures  that  caused  delay,  the  fleet  passed 
the  Cape  Fear  on  June  23  d,  and  two  days  later  came  to  anchor  at 
Wokokon,  now  known  as  Ocracoke,  southwest  of  Cape  Hatteras. 
One  of  the  vessels,  under  Captain  Raymond,  had,  however,  preceded 
the  others,  and  having  reached  the  vicinity  twenty  days  earlier,  had 
disembarked  thirty-two  men  at  Croatoan,  a  part  of  the  sandbanks 
nearer  the  cape,  that  island  also  being  called  the  "Admiral's  Island," 
and  Cape  Hatteras  itself  was  known  as  Cape  Amadas. 

EXPLORATION    ON    THE   MAINLAND. 

Some  ten  days  were  spent  in  examining  the  vicinity,  and  then,  on 
July  11th,  a  considerable  party  embarked  in  four  large  boats,  and 
taking  provisions  for  eight  days,  passed  over  to  the  mainland,  bor- 
dering on  Pamlico  Sound.  They  visited  the  Lidian  town  of  Pomeiok, 
and  the  great  lake,  Paquipe,  and  the  town  of  Aquascogoc,  and  then 
Secotan,  and  explored  the  rivers  of  that  region.  Durmg  the  expedition 
an  Indian  at  Aquascogoc  stole  a  silver  cup  from  Sir  Richard  Grenville, 
and  not  restoring  it,  according  to  promise,  Sir  Richard  went  back 
from  Secotan  to  that  town  for  the  purpose  of  regaining  it;  but  the 
Indians  had  fled.  So  Sir  Richard,  to  punish  the  theft,  burned  and 
spoiled  their  corn,  which  set  those  savages  at  enmity  mth  the  English. 

Having  gained  some  famiharity  v/ith  those  southern  parts,  the 
admiral  weighed  anchor,  and  turning  the  cape,  reached  Hattorask 
Inlet,  having  previously  advised  King  Wingina  at  Roanoke  Island 
of  their  coming.  The  colonists  were  accomipanied  by  Manteo  and 
Wanchese.  The  former  had  been  strengthened  in  his  friendship  for 
the  Enghsh,  but  the  latter,  whether  because  of  apprehensions  of  their 
gi^eat  power,  which  he  had  beheld  in  England,  or  because  he  belonged 
to  that  tribe  on  the  Pamlico  whose  corn  Sir  Richard  had  destroyed, 
displayed  an  unfriendly  disposition  toward  them.  Arriving  at  Hat- 
torask, the  settlers  disembarked  on  August  17th,  and  landed  on 
Roanoke  Island.  Who  now  can  enter  fuUy  into  the  feelings  of  those 
first  adventurers,  who  in  that  summer  time  made  their  lodgment  in 
the  New  World!  The  unknown  country,  the  placid  waters  of  the 
great  sound,  the  delightful  atmosphere  and  brilliant  sunshine,  and 
their  difficult  intercourse  with  the  untutored  savages  who  gathered 
around  them — with  their  strange  color,  manners,  and  customs — and 
themselves  so  far  removed  from  their  distant  homes — must  have  been 
constant  subjects  of  reflection,  mingling  pleasure  and  apprehension, 
gratifying  their  spirit  of  adventure,  and  fostering  hopes  of  personal 
reward,  but  ever  startling  them,  with  the  extreme  novelty  of  their 
situation.  A  week  after  the  landing  Grenville  took  his  departure, 
leaving  the  colonists  established  on  Roanoke  Island. 

FORT    RALEIGH    ON    ROANOKE    ISLAND. 

Lane  at  once  began  the  erection  of  dwelling  houses  at  a  convenient 
point  on  the  northern  end  of  the  island,  and  constructed  a  fort  there, 
which  he  called  Fort  Raleigh;  and  from  there  excursions  were  made 
in  every  direction  to  get  a  better  acquaintance  with  the  country  and 


INDIANS  OF    NOETH   CAEOLINA.  75 

its  products.  To  the  southward  they  went  eighty  miles  to  Secotan, 
that  lay  near  the  mouth  of  the  Neuse;  to  the  north  they  reached  the 
Chesipeans,  some  fifteen  miles  inland  from  the  head  of  Currituck 
Sound,  and  temporarily  a  small  number  of  the  English  estabhshed 
themselves  in  that  region.  From  these  Indians,  as  well  as  from  infor- 
mation derived  from  those  on  the  Chowan,  Lane  learned  that  there 
was  a  larger  and  better  harbor  not  far  distant  to  the  northward.  On 
the  west  they  penetrated  to  Chowanoak,  a  large  Indian  town  on  the 
Chowan  River,  and  in  that  region  they  found  an  Indian  sovereign,  or 
Weroance,  who  ruled  about  eight  hundred  warriors,  having  subject 
to  him  eighteen  to\^Tis.  These  towns,  however,  never  consisted  of 
more  than  thirty  houses,  and  generally  of  only  ten  or  twelve.  The 
houses  were  made  vnth.  small  poles  fastened  at  the  top,  the  sides  being 
covered  with  bark,  and  usually  about  twenty  feet  long,  although  some 
were  forty  and  fifty  feet,  and  were  divided  into  separate  rooms. 

In  these  explorations  the  colonists  ascended  the  various  rivers 
emptying  into  the  sound,  and  became  familiar  with  the  adjacent 
country.  Hariot  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the  natural  history 
of  the  region  and  wrote  a  valuable  account  of  the  animals,  the  vege- 
tables, the  plants,  and  the  trees  found  there,  and  White  made  many 
sketches  that  are  still  preserved  in  the  British  Museum. 

FAMINE    THEEATENS    THE    COLONISTS. 

Among  the  savages,  Ensinore,  the  old  father  of  Wingina  and 
Granganimeo,  and  Manteo  were  friendly  with  the  v^iite  strangers; 
but  the  other  chieftains  were  not  favorable  to  them,  although  their 
bearing  was  not  openly  hostile.  Granganimeo  unfortunately  died 
shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the  colonists,  and  upon  that  event  Wingina, 
the  king,  according  to  some  usage,  took  the  name  of  Pemisapan,  and 
as  time  passed  he  began  to  intrigue  against  the  Enghsh,  in  which  he 
was  joined  by  Wanchese,  Terraquine,  Osacan,  and  other  head  men 
of  the  Indians.  Relying  on  an  additional  suppl}^  of  provisions  by 
Easter,  the  colonists  had  been  improvident,  and  by  spring  had 
exhausted  their  stock,  and  the  planting  time  of  vegetables  and  corn 
had  hardly  come  when  they  found  themselves  without  food.  Their 
reUance  now,  temporarily  at  least,  was  on  the  corn  of  the  Indians, 
and  that  was  difficult  to  obtain.  Their  situation  had  become  one  of 
peril,  especially  as  the  Indians  were  reluctant  to  supply  them. 
Pemisapan,  understanding  their  difficulties,  and  at  heart  their  enemy, 
now  warily  devised  a  plan  for  their  destruction.  He  instilled  into 
the  Chowanists  and  into  the  Mangoaks,  a  strong  and  warhke  tribe 
inhabiting  the  region  on  the  Moratoc,  or  Roanoke  River,  that  the 
English  were  their  enemies;  and  then  he  informed  Lane  that  the 
Mangoaks  had  much  corn  and  that  there  were  rich  mines  of  gold 
and  copper  and  other  minerals  in  their  country,  and  that  they  pos- 
sessed stores  of  pearls  and  precious  stones.  This  appealed  strongly 
to  Lane's  cupidity,  and  he  eventuaUy  determined  to  visit  them,  and 
appUed  to  Pemisapan  for  guides,  and  three  Indians  besides  Manteo 
were  assigned  to  accompany  hun.  So  m  March  Lane  set  out  on  his 
expedition,  taking  the  pinnace  and  two  smaUer  boats,  with  some 
50  or  GO  men.  He  visited  aU  the  towns  on  the  water's  edge,  and  v»'as 
especially  pleased  with  some  high  land  seen  before  reaching  Chowan- 
oak, subject  to  that  king,  where  there  was  a  goodly  cornfield  and  a 


76  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

town  called  Ohanoak.  Arriving  at  Chowanoak,  he  found  a  consider- 
able assemblage  there,  the  King  Menatonon  and  his  people  being 
under  apprehension  that  the  English  were  enemies  to  them.  Although 
Lane  as  a  precautionary  measure  seized  the  person  of  the  king  and 
his  young  son,  Skyco,  he,  nevertheless,  was  able  to  disarm  their  fears, 
and  durmg  a  sojourn  of  two  days  with  them  obtained  considerable 
information  concerning  the  Mongoaks  and  their  country,  and  also 
learned  that  by  ascending  the  Chowan  two  days  in  a  boat  he  would 
be  within  a  four  days'  journey,  by  land,  of  a  king's  country  that  lay 
upon  the  sea.  Obtaining  some  corn  from  Menatonon,  and  keeping 
Skyco  as  a  hostage  for  further  kindness,  he  sent  the  young  Indian 
prince  in  the  pinnace  to  the  fort,  and  with  the  remainmg  boats  and 
forty  men  pushed  on  up  the  Moratoc.  His  progress  was  slow,  and 
he  observed  the  difference  between  the  strong  current  of  that  river  and 
the  sluggish  waters  of  the  great  estuaries  of  the  broad  sound  of 
Weapomeiok,  as  the  country  north  of  Albemarle  Sound  was  then 
called. 

EXPLORATION    AND    STARVATION. 

The  Mongoaks  proved  hostile,  and  when  he  had  ascended  the  river 
two  days,  having  progressed  about  thirty  miles,  they  made  an  attack 
that  was,  however,  easily  repulsed.  Then  penetrating  into  the 
country.  Lane  found  that  the  savages  withdrew  before  him,  removing 
all  their  corn  and  leaving  nothing  on  which  his  men  could  subsist. 
His  provisions  being  nearly  out,  he  left  it  to  the  men  to  determine 
whether  they  should  return  or  proceed;  but  they  had  two  large 
mastiff's  with  them,  and  the  men,  declaring  that  the  dogs  prepared 
with  sassafras  would  be  good  for  two  days'  food,  would  not  then 
abandon  the  expedition;  and  so  they  pushed  on  farther,  but  without 
any  favorable  result.  At  length,  in  danger  of  starvation,  and  their 
strength  failing,  they  turned  down  stream,  and  in  one  day  reached 
an  island  at  the  mouth  of  the  river. 

Their  provisions  now  were  entirely  exhausted;  but  here,  because 
of  a  heavy  wind  raising  great  billows  in  the  sound,  they  were  con- 
strained to  remain  the  whole  of  the  next  day.  It  was  Easter  eve; 
and  Lane  says  they  truly  kept  the  fast.  But  Easter  morn  brought 
them  new  hope,  and  the  storm  ceasing,  they  entered  the  sound,  and 
by  four  o'clock  reached  the  Indian  town  of  Chepanum  (apparently 
on  Durant's  Neck,  between  Little  and  Perquimans  rivers),  which 
they  found  deserted;  but  fortunately  there  were  fish  in  the  weirs 
that  furnished  timely  food;  "for  some  of  our  company  of  the  Hght- 
horsemen  were  far  spent,"  those  sailors  who  managed  the  canoes  or 
light  boats  since  called  gigs  being  facetiously  designated  as  "light- 
horsemen." 

The  next  morning,  refreshed  and  strengthened,  they  resumed  their 
journey  and  returned  to  Roanoke  in  safety. 

THE    INDIANS    BECOME    HOSTILE. 

In  their  absence,  Pemisapan  had  stirred  up  the  neighboring 
Indians  to  enmity  against  the  remaining  colonists,  and  hoping  that 
his  devices  for  the  destruction  of  Lane's  party  had  succeeded,  he 
sought  to  strengthen  the  resolution  of  his  followers  by  declaring  that 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA.  77 

Lane  and  his  party  had  either  died  of  starvation  or  had  been  cut  ofi 
by  the  Mongoaks.  Ensinore,  who  had  urged  more  friendly  counsels, 
had  unfortunately  died  toward  the  end  of  March,  and  there  was 
now  no  influence  to  counteract  Pemisapan's  hostiUty;  and  urged  by 
him,  the  Indians  would  no  longer  render  any  assistance  in  the  way 
of  obtaining  either  fish  or  other  food,  and  the  situation  of  the  colony 
was  becoming  extremely  critical.  The  protracted  absence  of  Lane's 
party  added  to  their  despondency,  while  it  gave  color  to  the  report 
of  their  destruction.  Such  was  the  deplorable  condition  on  the  island 
when  Lane's  reappearance,  contrary  to  the  prophecies  of  his  enemies, 
together  with  the  accounts  given  by  the  Indians  who  had  accom- 
panied him  of  the  ease  with  which  he  had  overcome  those  Mongoaks 
who  had  fought  him,  caused  a  reaction  in  favor  of  the  whites,  and  the 
Indians  once  more  began  to  set  weirs  for  them  and  aided'  them  in 
planting  corn,  the  planting  season  having  now  arrived.  StiU,  until 
rehef  should  come  from  England,  or  the  crops  just  planted  should 
mature,  the  colonists  had  to  rely  on  such  supphes  as  they  could 
gather  for  themselves.  In  this  extremity  resort  was  had  to  the 
oyster  beds  found  in  the  sound;  and  the  better  to  subsist,  the  men 
were  divided  into  smaU  companies,  and  located  at  different  points. 
Captain  Stafford  and  twenty  others  were  sent  to  Croatoan,  where, 
wmle  getting  oysters,  they  could  watch  for  the  approach  of  the 
expected  vessels  bearing  rehef;  at  Hattorask  a  dozen  more  were 
stationed  for  the  same  purpose,  while  every  week  companies  of 
fifteen  or  twenty  were  sent  to  the  mainland  to  hunt  for  food.  Thus 
they  managed  to  exist  through  the  month  of  May,  waiting  and 
watching  in  vain  for  the  promised  supphes  from  home. 

In  the  meantime,  Pemisapan,  while  preserving  a  friendly  guise, 
began  to  plot  anew  against  them,  and  instigated  the  hostile  Indians 
to  take  the  whites  at  a  disadvanatge,  falling  upon  them  while  scattered 
and  cutting  them  off  in  detail.  To  carry  out  this  scheme  he  proposed 
to  hold  a  great  assembly  of  Indians,  to  last  a  month,  by  way  of 
solemnizing  the  death  of  his  father,  Ensinore.  This  meeting  was  to 
be  held  on  the  mainland,  at  Desamonguepeuk,  opposite  Roanoke 
Island;  and  besides  seven  hundred  neighboring  warriors,  it  was  to 
be  attended  by  an  equal  number  of  the  Man^oaks  and  Chesipeans, 
who  were  to  come  and  lie  secretly  in  the  woods  until  the  signal  fires 
should  give  them  the  order  to  rise.  As  a  part  of  the  same  plan,  it 
was  arranged  that  Terraquine,  one  of  Pemisapan's  chieftains,  with 
twenty  men,  should  set  fire  to  the  thatched  root  of  Lane's  house,  and 
when  he  should  come  out,  they  were  to  murder  him.  Another  leader 
and  squad  were  to  deal  with  Hariot  the  same  way;  and,  similarly, 
all  of  the  principal  men  of  the  colony  were  to  be  surprised  and  over- 
come. Toward  the  end  of  May  the  neighboring  Indians  began  to 
assemble  on  Roanoke  Island,  the  night  of  June  10th  being  the  time 
appointed  for  the  others  to  meet  and  carry  into  effect  the  murderous 
plot. 

Skyco,  being  the  son  of  a  king,  on  reaching  the  island  had  been 
taken  by  Pemisapan  to  reside  with  his  own  family,  and  as  the  young 
prince  was  held  a  prisoner  and  was  deemed  hostile  to  the  English,  the 
plot  became  known  to  him ;  but  Lane  had  treated  him  with  kindness 
and  consideration,  and  the  young  boy  in  gratitude  revealed  to  him  aU 
the  details  of  the  conspiracy.  Confronted  with  such  an  emergency, 
Lane's   strength   of   character   and   resolution   promptly   displayed 


78  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

itself.     Had  he  been  a  weaker  man,  not  so  resourceful,  the  colonists 
would  probably  have  fallen  victims  to  Indian  strategy. 

lane's  strategy. 

Pemisapan  had  gone  over  to  the  mainland,  ostensibly  to  see  about 
his  growing  corn  crops,  but  really  to  attend  to  collecting  the  hostile 
Indians.  Lane,  realizing  that  safety  could  only  be  secured  by  the 
death  of  this  wily  foe  and  of  his  coadjutors,  resolved  on  an  immediate 
stroke.  He  sent  him  word  to  return  to  the  island,  for  having  heard 
of  the  arrival  of  his  fleet  at  Croatoan,  he  himself  proposed  to  go  there ; 
and  he  wished  Pemisapan  to  detail  some  of  his  men  to  fish  and  hunt 
for  him  at  Croatoan,  and  he  also  wanted  to  purchase  four  days'  supply 
of  corn  to  take  with  him.  Pemisapan,  however,  did  not  fall  into 
the  trap;  but  while  promising  to  come,  postponed  doing  so  from  day 
to  day,  waiting  for  the  assembling  of  the  hostile  Indians.  At  length, 
on  the  last  of  May,  all  of  Pemisapan's  own  people  having  begun  to 
congregate  on  the  island.  Lane  determined  to  wait  no  longer.  So 
that  night  he  ordered  "the  master  of  the  light-horsemen,"  as  he 
termed  his  chief  boatman,  with  a  few  others  to  gather  up  at  sunset 
all  the  canoes  in  the  island,  so  as  to  prevent  any  information  being 
.conveyed  to  the  mainland.  As  the  "light-horsemen"  were  performing 
this  duty,  they  saw  a  canoe  departing  from  the  island,  and  in  seizing 
it  two  of  the  savages  were  killed.  This  aroused  the  Indians  who 
were  present,  and  they  at  once  took  themselves  to  their  bows  and  the 
Englishmen  to  their  muskets.  Some  few  of  the  sava,ges  were  killed 
in  the  encounter  and  the  others  fled  down  the  island.  At  dawn  the 
next  morning,  with  the  "light-horsemen"  and  a  canoe  carrying 
twenty-five  others,  with  the  "colonel  of  the  Chesipeans,"  and  "the 
sergeant  major,"  Lane  hastened  to  the  mainland,  and  sent  word  to 
Pemisapan  that  he  was  coming  to  visit  him,  as  he  was  about  to  depart 
for  Croatoan,  and  wished  to  complain  of  the  conduct  of  Osacan,  who 
the  night  before  had  tried  to  convey  away  the  prisoner  Skyco,  whom 
he  had  there  handcufi'ed.  The  Indian  king,  ignorant  of  what  had 
happened  on  the  island,  and  not  suspecting  any  hostile  purpose, 
received  Lane  and  his  attendants,  who,  coming  up,  found  him  sur- 
rounded by  seven  or  eight  of  his  principal  Weroances,  together  with 
many  other  warriors. 

As  soon  as  they  met.  Lane  gave  the  agreed  signal,  "Christ,  our 
Victory,"  and  immediately  the  colonel  of  the  Chesipeans,  the  sergeant 
major,  and  their  company  opened  fire,  and  Pemisapan  and  his  chief 
men  were  slain  and  the  others  dispersed.  A  blow  so  sudden  and 
terrible  paralyzed  the  Indians;  the  plot  was  abandoned  and  the 
danger  averted. 

drake  arrives  and  the  colonists  return  to  ENGLAND. 

A  week  later,  on  June  8th,  the  colony  was  thrown  into  an  ecstasy 
of  excitement  by  the  hasty  arrival  of  a  messenger  from  Stafford,  who 
reported  seeing  off  Croatoan  a  fleet  consisting  of  more  than  twenty 
vessels;  but  war  had  the  year  before  broken  out  between  Spain  and 
England,  and  it  was  not  at  first  known  whether  the  ships  belonged  to 
friends  or  foes.  The  next  day,  however,  Stafford  himself  came, 
having  walked  twenty  miles  by  land,  bringing  a  letter,  proffering 


INDIANS   OF    NORTH    CAROLINA.  79 

food  and  assistance,  from  Sir  Francis  Drake,  then  at  Hattorask,  who 
had  just  returned  from  sacking  Santo  Domingo,  Cartagena  and  St. 
Augustine.  With  a  joyful  heart,  Lane  hastened  to  the  fleet  "riding 
at  his  bad  harbor";  and  Drake  proposed  to  leave  him  a  sufficient 
supply  of  provisions  and  a  small  vessel  that  could  pass  the  inlet  and 
lie  within  the  sound.  But  before  the  necessary  arrangements  were 
completed  a  terrific  storm  came  up  that  lasted  three  days,  and  the 
vessel  which  was  to  have  been  left  was  blown  to  sea  and  did  not 
return;  and  much  damage  was  done  to  the  other  ships  of  the  fieet,  and 
many  pinnaces  and  smaller  boats  were  entirely  lost.  After  the 
storm  had  abated,  Drake  offered  to  leave  another  vessel,  but  he  then 
had  none  that  could  enter  the  harbor;  so  the  ship,  if  left,  would  have 
had  to  remain  on  the  perilous  coast.  As  an  alternative  proposition 
Drake  ofl'ered  to  take  the  colonists  aboard  and  transport  them  to 
England.  After  consideration,  it  was  deemed  best  to  accept  this 
last  offer,  and  the  different  companies  into  which  the  colony  had  been 
broken  being  again  collected,  they  embarked  on  June  19th  and 
safely  reached  Portsmouth  on  July  27th.  Thus,  after  a  nine  months' 
residence,  ended  the  first  attempt  to  plant  a  colony  on  Koanoke 
Island. 

In  the  meantime,  a  bark  bearing  advice  that  a  new  fleet  was  coming 
had  been  despatched  from  England,  and  somewhat  later  Sir  Richard 
Grenville  sailed  with  three  vessels  freighted  with  supplies  and  bringing 
other  colonists.  The  first  bark  arrived  immediately  after  the  de- 
parture of  Lane,  and  finding  the  settlement  abandoned,  returned  to 
England;  but  when  Sir  Richard  came,  a  fortnight  later,  he  remamed 
three  weeks  searching  for  the  settlers  and  making  explorations;  and 
then  putting  fifteen  men  in  the  fort,  with  an  ample  supply  of  pro- 
visions, he  sailed  away  on  a  cruise  against  the  Spaniards. 

Chapter  IV. 

white's    colony,    1587-91. 

Raleigh's  embarrassments. — Conveys  an  interest  in  Virginia  to  Thomas  Smith,  John 
White,  and  associates. — The  Citie  of  Raleigh  in  Virginia. — White's  colony  departs. 
■ — Howe  murdered. — White  despoils  the  fields  of  the  hostiles. — Baptism  of 
Manteo. — Birth  and  christening  of  Virginia  Dare. — White  returns  to  England. — 
The  Armada. — White's  first  attempt  to  return  to  Virginia. — Raleigh  makes 
further  conveyance  of  his  interest. — White  sails  in  February,  1591. — Finds  colony 
removed. — Mace's  voyage. — Elizabeth  dies. — Raleigh  arrested  for  treason. — 
The  settlement  at  Jamestown. — Fate  of  the  Lost  Colony. 

Raleigh's  embarrassments. 

The  unexpected  return  of  Lane's  colonists  greatly  disappointed 
Raleigh.  His  efforts  at  exploration  and  colonization  had  involved  great 
expenditures.  He  had  already  disbursed  forty  thousand  pounds  in 
the  enterprise,  a  sum  approximating  in  this  age  half  a  million  dollars, 
and  that  at  a  period  when  there  was  no  great  accumulation  of  wealth 
in  England.  He  had  now  been  at  court  some  years  and  was  a  member 
of  Parliament;  and  his  fine  powers  and  accomplishments,  his  versa- 
tility of  genius  and  varied  learning,  commended  him  to  the  high 
favor  of  the  queen,  who  gave  substantial  evidence  of  her  inclination 
to  push  his  fortunes.     In  1584  she  had  bestowed  on  him  a  grant  of 


80  INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

twelve  thousand  acres  of  forfeited  land  in  Munster,  Ireland,  whicli 
he  attempted  to  colonize  with  English  tenants  and  where  he  employed 
a  large  force  in  cutting  timber  for  market,  which,  however,  did  not 
turn  out  a  profitable  enterprise.  Also,  beginning  in  the  same  year, 
he  received  annually  for  five  years  profitable  grants  allowing  him  to 
export  quantities  of  broadcloth  from  England — a  sort  of  monopoly; 
and  he  likewise  obtained  a  lucrative  monopoly  in  the  grant  of  the 
"farm  of  wines,"  vesting  in  him  the  power  of  selling  licenses  for  the 
vending  of  wine  and,  in  some  measure,  of  regulating  the  price  of  that 
commodity  throughout  the  kingdom.  Some  months  after  Lane's 
return,  on  the  attainder  of  Anthony  Babbington,  the  queen  was  also 
pleased  to  bestow  on  Raleigh  all  of  the  estates  that  had  come  to  the 
Crown  by  the  attainder,  which  gave  him  rich  manors  and  broad  acres  in 
five  counties  of  England.  In  July,  1585,  when  the  war  broke  out  with 
Spain,  he  was  created  Lord  Warden  of  the  Stannaries  (Cornwall  and 
Devon)  and  Vice- Admiral  of  Cornwall  and  Devon;  and  two  years 
later  he  was  appointed  captaiii  of  the  Queen's  Guard,  the  office  of  a 
courtier,  to  succeed  Hatton,  who  was  to  become  Lord  Chancellor. 
But  neither  his  out-lays  in  Ireland  nor  his  expenditures  for  Virginia 
had  yielded  him  any  return,  while  his  living  at  court,  where  he 
indulged  in  magnificent  display,  involved  large  expenses. 

THE   CITIE   OF   RALEIGH    IN   VIRGINIA. 

Such  were  his  circumstances  when  Lane's  colony  returned  to 
England  in  the  fall  of  1586.  But  unwilling  to  abandon  the  enter- 
prise and  still  hoping  for  profit  from  establishing  a  trade  in  Virginia, 
he  now  determined  to  associate  merchants  with  him  who  would  share 
the  profits  and  the  expenses.  At  that  time  some  of  the  wealthy  mer- 
chants of  London  were  looking  with  eager  eyes  for  new  avenues  of 
trade  and  commerce.  Chief  among  these  was  Thomas  Smith,  whose 
subsequent  enterprises  led  to  his  receiving  knighthood  at  the  hands 
of  his  appreciative  sovereign;  and  of  their  number  was  Richard 
Hakluyt,  to  whom  posterity  is  indebted  for  the  collection  and  publi- 
cation of  many  narratives  of  exploration  and  discovery  in  that 
interesting  period.  To  Smith  and  eighteen  other  merchants  who 
risked  their  money  in  the  enterprise  Raleigh  granted  free  trade 
forever  with  his  colony  in  Virginia,  and  to  thirteen  others  he  assigned 
the  right  of  governing  the>  colony.  Of  these  John  White,  who  had 
been  in  all  the  previous  expeditions  to  Virginia,  was  constituted  the 
governor,  and  the  other  twelve,  who  also  were  to  accompany  the 
colony,  were  nominated  his  assistants;  among  them  Ananias  Dare 
and  Dionysius  Harvie,  who  carried  their  wives  with  them,  and  the 
former  of  whom  was  White's  son-in-law.  These  thirteen  Raleigh, 
by  patent,  under  the  powers  contained  in  his  own  charter,  on  January 
7,  1587,  erected  into  a  corporation  under  the  name  of  ''The  Governor 
and  Assistants  of  the  Citie  of  Raleigh  in  Virginia";  and  the  nineteen 
merchants  were  made  members,  "free  of  the  corporation." 

A   PERMANENT    SETTLEMENT   ATTEMPTED. 

These  preliminaries  being  arranged,  a  new  colony  was  collected, 
consisting  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  persons,  of  whom  seven- 
teen were  women,  twelve  apparently  being  wives  accompanying  their 


INDIANS  OP   NORTH   CAROLINA.  81 

husbands,  and  nine  being  children.  On  April  26,  1587,  three  vessels 
bearing  the  colonists  left  Portsmouth  for  Plymouth;  and  on  May 
8th  finally  took  their  departure  from  that  port  for  Hattorask,  where, 
after  many  adventures,  two  of  them  arrived  on  July  22d,  and  a  few 
days  later  the  other.  Raleigh  had  given  written  directions  that 
after  taking  in  the  fifteen  men  left  by  Grenville  the  vessels  were 
to  proceed  to  Chesapeake  Bay,  where  a  new  settlement  was  to  be 
made,  and  such  was  the  purpose  of  Governor  White.  But  when 
White  with  a  part  of  his  men  had  left  the  ship  to  visit  Roanoke  Island 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  off  the  fifteen  men,  Ferdinando,  the  admiral, 
influenced  the  sailors  to  say  that  they  could  not  be  received  back  into 
the  ship,  thus  constraining  all  the  colonists  to  disembark.  At  sunset 
White's  boat  reached  the  island,  but  the  only  trace  he  could  find  of  the 
men  left  by  Grenville  was  the  bones  of  one  that  lay  unburied  where  he 
had  been  slain.  The  fort  had  been  razed  down,  but  the  cottages  were 
still  standing,  some  of  the  outer  planks,  however,  being  torn  off. 
Forced  to  remain  there,  White  set  the  men  at  once  to  work  to  repair 
the  buildings  and  to  construct  others.  The  colonists  had  hardly 
gotten  established  in  their  new  homes,  when  George  Howe,  one  of  the 
assistants,  having  strayed  off  two  miles  from  the  fort  catching  crabs 
on  the  shore  opposite  the  mainland,  was  set  upon  by  some  savages, 
receiving  sixteen  wounds  from  arrows,  and  was  slain.  This  was  an 
evidence  of  hostility  that  White  at  once  sought  to  allay.  He  sent 
Stafford  with  twenty  men,  accompanied  by  Manteo,  who  along  with 
another  Indian,  Towaye,  had  gone  to  England  and  had  now  returned 
to  Croatoan,  where  Manteo's  mother  and  kindred  were;  and  from 
these  friendly  Indians  it  was  learned  that  some  savages  from  the 
mainland  had  taken  the  men  left  by  Grenville  unawares,  had  killed 
some  of  them,  set  fire  to  the  house  where  they  had  taken  refuge,  and 
driven  them  from  the  island;  they  taldng  their  boat  and  going  to  an 
island  near  Hattorask,  after  which  they  had  never  been  seen.  They 
also  said  that  it  was  a  remnant  of  Wingina's  men  dwelling  at  Dasa- 
monc[uepeuc  who  had  slain  Howe.  To  establish  more  amicable 
relations  with  these  hostile  Indians,  the  Croatoans  were  requested  to 
go  over  to  their  towns  and  proffer  them  the  friendship  of  the  English, 
who  promised  to  forgive  and  forget  all  past  offences;  and  it  was 
agreed  that  this  embassy  was  to  return  with  the  answer  within  seven 
days.  At  the  end  of  the  time,  no  answers  being  received,  White 
deemed  it  best  to  strike  a  blow  to  show  that  the  colonists  were  to  be 
dreaded.  At  night,  accompanied  by  Stafford  and  twenty-four  men 
and  Manteo,  he  crossed  over  to  Dasamonquepeuc  and  secreted  his 
force  near  the  Indian  town;  and  early  in  the  morning  he  opened  fire 
on  some  Indians  discovered  there.  Unfortunately,  these  were  not 
the  hostiles,  who,  fearing  punishment  for  the  murder  of  Howe,  had 
fled,  leaving  their  corn  standing  in  the  fields;  but  they  were  some  of 
the  Croatoans  who  had  gone  there  to  gather  the  corn.  White,  dis- 
appointed in  his  revenge,  despoiled  the  fields  and  returned  home. 
The  colony  being  now  settled,  on  August  13th  a  ceremony  was  per- 
formed at  Roanoke  that  gave  expression  to  the  gratitude  of  Raleigh 
and  the  colony  for  the  faithful  and  friendly  services  of  Manteo. 

By  command  of  Sir  Walter,  the  rite  of  baptism  was  administered 
to  Manteo,  and  there  was  conferred  on  him  the  order  of  Knighthood; 

75321°— S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 6 


82  INDIANS  OF  NOETH  CAEOLINA. 

and  he  was  created  Lord  of  Roanoke  and  Dasamonguepeuk.  And 
five  days  later  another  interesting  event  occurred,  the  birth  of  the 
first  EngUsh  child  born  in  America.  On  August  18,  1587,  Eleanor 
Dare,  wife  of  Ananias  Dare  and  a  daughter  of  the  governor,  gave 
birth  to  a  daughter,  who  the  next  Sunday  was  christened  Virginia, 
because  she  was  the  first  Christian  born  in  the  new  country.  A  few 
days  later,  also,  was  born  to  Dionysius  Harvie  and  his  wife,  Margery, 
a  child,  whose  name,  however,  has  not  been  preserved. 

THE    COLONISTS    TO   REMOVE    INTO    THE    INTERIOR. 

It  was  now  discovered  that  certain  other  particular  supplies  were 
needed,  as  this  was  intended  to  be  a  permanent  settlement;  and 
there  was  consultation  as  to  who  should  return  with  the  fleet  to  obtain 
them.  It  was  finally  determined  that  White  himself  would  answer 
the  purpose  best,  and  he  agreed  to  go  with  the  vessels  back  to  Eng- 
land. But  before  his  departure  it  was  resolved  that  the  colony 
should  remove  to  some  point  about  fifty  miles  in  the  interior;  and  it 
was  agreed  that  they  would,  on  departing  from  the  island,  leave  some 
sign  indicating  their  location;  and  if  in  distress,  a  cross  would  be  the 
sign.  It  is  probable  that  this  point,  fifty  miles  in  the  interior,  where 
the  colony  was  to  locate,  was  the  highland  near  Ohanoak,  where  there 
were  goodly  cornfields  and  pleasant  surroundings. 

At  length,  the  fleet  being  ready  to  sail,  on  August  27th,  after  a 
month's  sojourn  with  the  colony,  White  embarked  and  departed  for 
England.  On  the  return  voyage  he  met  with  many  perilous  adven- 
tures, but  finally,  about  the  middle  of  October,  made  land  at  Smer- 
wick,  on  the  west  coast  of  Ireland,  and  in  November  reached  Hamp- 
ton. With  him  came  to  England  stiU  another  Indian,  who,  accepting 
Christianity,  was  baptized  at  Bideford  Church;  but  a  year  later  died, 
and  was  interred  there.  When  the  colonists  receded  from  White's 
view,  as  he  left  the  shores  of  Virginia,  they  passed  from  the  domain 
of  history,  and  aU  we  know  is  that  misfortune  and  distress  overtook 
them;  and  that  they  miserably  perished,  their  sad  fate  being  one  of 
those  deplorable  sacrifices  that  have  always  attended  the  accomplish- 
ment of  great  human  purposes. 

CONDITIONS    IN    ENGLAND   ON    WHITE's    ARRIVAL. 

On  White's  arrival,  in  November,  1587,  seeking  aid  for  the  colony, 
doubtless  the  merchants  and  others  who  had  ventured  their  means 
with  Raleigh  in  this  last  attempt  at  colonization  and  trade  in  Vir- 
ginia, were  willing  to  respond;  but  there  were  rumors  of  the  prepara- 
tion in  Spain  of  a  great  Armada  to  invade  England,  and  an  order  had 
been  issued  forbidding  the  departure  of  any  vessel  from  any  English 
port.  In  that  period  of  excitement  and  alarm,  the  necessities  of  the 
distant  colonists  were  of  less  moment  than  the  pressing  matters  at 
home.  Still  Raleigh,  exerting  his  personal  influence,  obtained  a 
license  for  two  small  vessels  to  sail,  and  on  April  25,  1588,  White 
departed  with  them  from  Bideford  for  Virginia.  The  captains,  how- 
ever, were  more  intent  on  a  gainful  voyage  than  on  the  relief  of  the 
colonists,  and  betook  themselves  to  the  hazardous  business  of  making 
prizes.  At  length  one  of  them,  meeting  with  two  ships  of  war,  was 
after  a  bloody  fight  overcome  and  rifled,  despoiled  and  disabled,  and 


INDIANS   OF    NOKTH   CAROLINA. 


83 


she  returned  to  England  within  a  month;  and  three  weeks  later,  the 
other,  equally  badly  served,  came  home  without  having  completed 
the  voyage.  Soon  afterward,  the  great  Armada  appeared,  and 
Raleigh  was  among  those  who  made  havoc  of  the  Spanish  galleons 
in  the  "morris  dance  of  death,"  that,  beginning  in  the  straits,  lasted 
around  the  north  of  Scotland  and  on  the  coast  of  Ireland.     Imme- 


,c^^ 


HERE.  THE  KING    OF  PASPAHEGK  REPORTED, 
OfR  MEN  TO  BE,  AND  WANT  "TO  GO 


MACHOMONCMOCOK 


HERE    PEMAINETM*^ 


FOUf*  MEN  CLOTHEO 
THAT  CAM£    FPOM 
ROONOCK     TO 
OCAWAHONAN  ^^^  ,^ 


Map  of  the  lost  colony.    From  Ashe's  History  of  North  Carolina. 

diately  on  his  return  he  was  challenged  to  mortal  combat  by  the 
queen's  favorite,  the  handsome  boy,  Essex,  and  for  a  time  retired  to 
Ireland  in  seclusion.  But  soon  all  his  powers  and  resources  were 
employed  in  distressing  Spanish  commerce  and  in  takmg  rich  prizes, 
while  England  was  again  and  again  threatened  with  Spanish  inva- 
sion.    In  the  following  March,  1589,  because,  perhaps,  both  of  his 


84  INDIAlSrS  OF   NORTH   CABOLINA. 

public  employments  and  of  the  greater  facilities  of  the  merchants  to 
care  for  the  colonists,  he  transferred  his  rights  in  Virginia  by  an 
assignment  or  lease  to  Thomas  Smith,  White  and  others,  and  relin- 
quished his  interest  in  the  colony.  What  particular  efforts  these 
merchants  made  to  relieve  the  planters  are  not  recorded;  but  White 
afterward  mentioned  "having  at  sundry  times  been  chargeable  and 
troublesome  to  Sir  Walter  for  the  supplies  and  relief  of  the  planters 
in  Virginia."  Because  of  the  inhibition  of  the  sailing  of  merchant 
ships  from  England,  no  opportunity  presented  for  White  to  return  to 
Virginia  until  early  in  1591.  He  then  ascertained  that  John  Watts 
of  London,  merchant,  was  about  to  send  three  vessels  to  the  West 
Indies;  but  when  they  were  ready  to  depart,  a  general  stay  was  again 
commanded  of  all  ships  throughout  England.  Taking  advantage  of 
this  circumstance.  White  applied  to  Sir  Walter  to  obtain  a  special 
hcense  for  these  vessels  to  sail,  on  condition  that  they  would  transport 
a  convenient  number  of  passengers  with  their  furniture  and  necessaries 
to  Virginia.  The  license  was  obtained  by  Raleigh,  but  the  condition 
was  not  observed;  and  the  only  passenger  they  would  take  was 
White  himseK,   and  no  provisions  for  the  rehef  of  the  colonists. 

WHITE   SAILS   FOR   ROANOKE. 

Leaving  Plymouth  on  March  20,  1591,  they  sailed  for  the  West  Li- 
dies  and  sought  to  make  prizes,  and  had  some  desperate  encounters. 
Eventually,  on  August  3d,  they  reached  Wokokon,  but  were  driven 
off  by  a  storm.  On  Monday,  the  9th,  however,  the  weather  being 
fair,  they  returned  and  anchored  and  went  on  shore,  obtaining  a 
supply  of  fresh  water  and  catching  great  stores  of  fish.  On  the 
morning  of  the  12th  they  departed,  and  toward  night  dropped  anchor 
at  the  north  end  of  Croatoan.  The  next  morning  they  sounded  the 
inlet  there,  and  then,  on  August  15th,  came  to  anchor  at  Hattorask, 
seeing  a  great  smoke  on  Roanoke  Island.  The  next  morning,  after 
directing  signal  guns  to  be  fired,  to  warn  the  colonists  of  their  pres- 
ence, they  entered  the  inlet;  but  observing  a  great  smoke  toward 
the  southwest,  they  landed  and  proceeded  to  it,  only  to  meet  with 
disappointment.  Returning  to  their  vessels,  the  morning  following 
they  set  off  again;  but  on  passing  the  bar  one  of  the  boats  was  upset, 
and  seven  of  the  crew,  including  the  captain,  the  mate  and  the  sur- 
geon, were  drowned,  and  the  remaining  men  protested  against  pro- 
ceeding further.  Distressing,  indeed,  was  the  situation  of  W^hite  and 
unpropitious  the  outlook  of  a  journey  begun  with  such  a  calamity. 
But  at  length  the  men  reluctantly  yielded  and  the  boats  proceeded 
to  the  island,  arriving  after  night,  anchoring  off  the  shore  and  sound- 
ing a  trumpet  call  and  famihar  tunes  to  evoke  a  response.  But  all 
in  vain.  No  answer  came,  although  in  the  distance  a  firehght  was 
seen.  At  break  of  day  they  landed  and  hastened  to  the  fire,  finding 
no  sign  of  the  English.  Then  pressing  across  the  island,  they  skirted 
along  its  western  shore  until  they  came  to  the  north  point  near  where 
the  settlement  had  been.  There  on  the  shore  they  found  a  tree  on 
which  had  been  cut  the  Roman  letters  C.  R.  O.  With  despondent 
hearts  they  proceeded  to  the  place  of  settlement,  and  saw  that  the 
houses  had  been  taken  down  and  the  place  strongly  enclosed  with  a 
high  pahsade  of  great  trees,  very  like  a  fort;  and  on  a  tree  was  cut  the 
word  "Croatoan,"  but  without  the  cross  or  sign  of  distress.     The  boats 


rSTDIANS  OP   NOETH   CAROLINA.  85 

were  gone;  the  pieces  of  light  ordnance  had  been  taken  away,  only 
some  of  the  heavier  pieces  remaining,  and  the  fort  was  all  grown  up 
with  grass  and  weeds,  as  if  long  since  deserted.  A  trench  in  which 
White  had  buried  his  boxes  had  been  opened  and  his  maps  and  prop- 
erty scattered,  and  his  armor  lay  on  the  ground,  ahnost  eaten  through 
with  rust.  It  was  a  scene  of  desolation.  There  was  still  a  hope,  yet 
it  must  have  been  but  faint,  that  the  colonists  could  be  found  at 
Croatoan.  White  had  just  sailed  along  that  island  and  had  anchored 
at  its  northern  end  and  had  beheld  no  sign  of  the  presence  of  any 
English  there.  Returnmg  to  the  mlet,  it  was,  however,  determined 
to  go  again  to  that  island.  But  after  they  had  weighed  anchor,  the 
design  was  relinquished;  and  one  vessel  returned  to  England  and 
the  other  steered  for  the  West  Indies.  From  that  time  onward  the 
Enghsh  who  settled  in  Virginia  vv'ere  kno^^^l  as  Raleigh's  Lost  Colony. 
They  were  not  forgotten,  but  were  never  discovered. 

Raleigh's  efforts  to  relieve  the  colony. 

Greater  enterprises  now  absorbed  Raleigh,  who  had  become  one  of 
the  most  heroic  of  that  splendid  company  of  heroes  who  brought 
lustre  to  the  Elizabethan  Age;  but  still,  between  1587  and  1602,  it 
is  said  that  he  sent  out  no  less  than  five  expeditions  to  seek  his 
unfortunate  company  in  Virginia.  In  1602  he  bought  a  ship,  hired 
a  crew,  placed  it  under  the  command  of  Samuel  Mace,  who  had  twice 
before  sailed  for  Virginia,  and  in  March  sent  it  forth  to  search  for  the 
colonists.  Mace  struck  Virginia  forty  leagues  southwest  of  Hatteras, 
and  spent  a  month  trading  with  the  Indians  as  he  scoured  along  the 
coast;  but  without  going  to  Croatoan  or  Hattorask,  he  returned  to 
Weymouth  in  August.  Raleigh  hastened  there  to  meet  him,  and 
found  in  the  same  harbor  another  vessel  likewise  just  arrived  from 
Vhginia,  but  which  had  missed  Roanoke  also,  by  forty  leagues  to 
the  northward.  He,  however,  proposed  to  send  them  both  away 
again,  havmg  saved  the  cost  in  the  sassafras  they  brought,  which  he 
claimed  because  of  his  ownership  of  the  land  under  his  patent,  no  one 
having  the  right,  he  asserted,  to  trade  in  Virginia  except  by  his 
license.  The  next  year  Richard  Hakluyt,  one  of  the  grantees  in  the 
charter  of  the  City  of  RpJeigh,  formally  applied  to  Sir  Walter  for 
permission  to  sail  to  northern  Virginia;  but  in  the  spring  of  that 
year,  1603,  Elizabeth  died,  and  before  the  summer  had  passed 
Raleigh  was  arrested  for  treason. 

JAMESTOWN 'settled — THE    ROANOE33    COLONY    DISAPPEARS. 

In  the  meantime  the  spirit  of  enterprise  which  had  been  stimulated 
by  Raleigh's  efforts  at  colonization  had  grown,  and  Thomas  Smith 
and  a  few  other  London  merchants,  in  1599,  had  laid  the  foundations 
of  the  East  India  Company,  whose  great  success  led,  in  1606,  to  the 
formation  of  another  corporation,  called  the  Virginia  Company,  with 
two  divisions,  at  the  head  of  one  division  being  Thomas  Smith,  now 
knighted,  and  other  London  merchants  and  gentlemen  who  had  been 
associated  vv'ith  Raleigh  in  his  enterprise;  and  on  December  19,  1606, 
Christopher  Newport  set  sail  with  one  hundred  and  forty-three  immi- 
grants and,  on  May  13th,  settled  Jamestown.     The  next  year  New- 


86  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

port  was  directed  to  make  an  expedition  to  find  Raleigh's  Lost 
Colony. 

THE    FATE    OF    WHITE'S    COLONISTS. 

The  colonists,  warned  by  previous  mishaps,  certainly  brought  with 
them  sufficient  supplies  to  last  until  a  crop  would  mature  in  the  fall 
of  1588,  and  they  did  not  neglect  to  begin  their  planting  operations. 

On  his  return  White  found  no  sign  of  any  planting  on  Roanoke 
Island;  nor  was  there  evidence  of  any  conflict  with  the  savages — no 
graves,  no  butchery.  The  dwellings  had  been  taken  down  and 
removed,  and  the  light  ordnance  had  been  carried  away.  The  growth 
of  weeds  indicated  that  two  seasons  had  passed  since  the  removal, 
and  apparently  the  spot  had  not  been  revisited  by  the  colonists  in 
many  months. 

On  his  departure  for  England,  the  avowed  intention  was  for  the 
colonists  to  settle  fifty  miles  in  the  interior;  and  when  he  coasted 
along  Croatoan  leisurely  he  observed  no  sign  of  their  presence  on  the 
shore.  Instead  of  establishing  themselves  on  that  barren  sandbank, 
exposed  to  the  attacks  of  the  Spaniards,  with  no  inviting  streams, 
nor  fertile  fields,  nor  shady  forests,  they  looked  westward  for  a  secure 
and  agreeable  location  for  their  permanent  settlement.  Fifty  miles 
would  have  brought  them  to  the  "goodly  highlands,  on  the  left  hand 
between  Muscamunge  and  Chowanoak,"  where  the  Indians  already 
had  fertile  cornfields;  and  there,  according  to  Indian  statements  of 
different  sources,  they  appear  to  have  seated  themselves  on  what 
are  now  the  pleasant  bluffs  of  Bertie  County. 

Several  vessels  were  at  different  times  despatched  to  search  for 
them;  but  none  of  these  entered  the  great  sounds.  At  length,  after 
Jamestown  was  settled,  Newport  in  1608  was  specially  directed  to 
make  an  exploration  to  discover  them.  An  expedition  by  water  did 
not  proceed  far  and  was  without  result.  A  searching  party  by  land 
penetrated  to  the  territory  of  the  Chowanists  and  Mangoaks,  but  did 
not  find  the  colonists. 

Smith  in  his  "True  Relation"  (1608)  repeats  information  derived 
from  the  king  of  the  Paspehegh  Indians,  who  resided  above  James- 
town, to  the  effect  that  there  were  men  apparelled  like  himself  at 
Ochanahonan,  which  seems  to  have  been  on  the  Nottoway;  and  that 
there  were  many  at  Panawicke,  a  region  apparently  between  the 
Chowan  and  Roanoke  rivers.  Five  years  later,  William  Strachey, 
the  secretary  of  the  Jamestown  colony,  gave  some  account  of  the 
missing  colonists  derived  from  Machumps,  a  friendly  Indian  of  con- 
siderable intelligence,  who  had  been  to  England  and  who  came  freely 
and  often  to  Jamestown.  At  Peccarecamek  and  Ochanahonan,  the 
Indians  had  houses  built  with  stone  walls,  one  story  above  another, 
having  been  taught  by  the  English  who  escaped  the  slaughter  at  the 
time  of  the  landing  at  Jamestown.  And  at  Ritanoe  there  were  pre- 
served seven  of  the  colonists,  four  men,  two  boys  and  a  young  maid, 
who  having  escaped,  fled  up  the  Chowan. 

For  more  than  twenty  years  the  colonists  were  reported  to  have 
lived  peaceably  with  the  Indians  and  to  have  intermixed  with  them 
in  their  locality,  beyond  the  territory  of  Powhatan;  and  then  on  the 
arrival  of  the  colonists  at  Jamestown,  Powhatan,  persuaded  by  his 
bloody  priests,  procured  their  slaughter,  he  being  present  on  the 


INDIANS   OF    NOETH   CAROLINA.  87 

occasion.     Some  escaped;  but  none  ever  had  communication  with  the 
Jamestown  settlers. 

Peccarecamek  was  apparently  on  the  upper  Pamlico,  or  Tar  River; 
and  perhaps  a  trace  of  English  blood  might  be  found  in  the  aggressive- 
ness and  fierceness  of  the  Indians  of  that  region  a  century  later. 

TRACES    OF    THE    COLONISTS. 

If  others  were  r>reserved  on  the  sandbanks,  as  they  might  well  have 
been,  escaping  in  their  pinnace  through  the  waters  of  the  sound,  a 
trace  of  them  possibly  came  down  to  posterity  through  their  inter- 
mixture with  the  Hatteras  Indians.  That  small  tribe  had  always 
been  friendly  with  the  whites;  and  as  late  as  1709,  grey  eyes  were 
found  among  them  and  they  cherished  a  friendship  with  the  English 
because  of  their  affinity,  according  to  their  own  traditions.  Yet 
there  were  other  opportunities  for  an  admixture  of  the  races.  Thirty- 
two  men  of  Captain  R.a}miond's  company  were  among  them  twenty 
days  before  the  arrival  of  Lane's  colony,  and  the  following  summer 
Captain  Staft'ord  and  twenty  men  were  with  them  until  Drake  came 
in  June,  and  doubtless  others  were  stationed  there  the  next  year  to 
keep  watch  for  the  expected  return  of  White,  until  all  hope  had 
expired.  Other  than  these  possible  traces  no  memorial  has  ever  been 
discovered  of  the  existence  of  the  Lost  Colony,  whose  mournful  fate, 
involved  in  mystery,  has  ever  been  a  fruitful  theme  of  song  and  story. 


EXHIBIT   D. 

NOTES    OF   LEDERER'S   TRAVELS   IN   NORTH   CAROLINA   AND 
COMMENTS  BY   DR.   HAWKS. 

[Reprinted  from  Hawks'  History  of  North  Carolina,  Vol.  2.] 

No.  VII. 

EXTRACTS    FROM    THE    DISCOVERIES    OF   JOHN   LEDERER. 

In  three  several  Marches  from  Virginia  to  the  west  of  Carolina,  and  other  parts  of  the 
Continent;  begun  in  March,  1669,  and  ended  in  September,  1670.  Collected  and 
translated  out  of  Latin  from  has  discourse  and  writings,  by  Sir  "William  Talbot, 
Baronet.  Printed  in  London,  in  1672.  [Reprinted  from  a  copy  in  the  author's 
library.] 

[John  Lederer  was  a  learned  German,  who  lived  in  Virginia  during 
the  administration  of  Sir  William  Berkeley.  Little  was  then  known 
of  the  mountainous  part  of  that  State,  or  of  what  was  beyond. 
Berkeley  commissioned  Lederer  to  make  explorations,  and  accord- 
ingly he  went  upon  three  several  expeditions.  The  first  was  from  the 
head  of  York  River  due  west  to  the  Appalachian  Mountains ;  the  sec- 
ond was  from  the  falls  of  James  River,  west  and  southwest,  and  brought 
him  into  North  Carolina,  through  several  of  the  counties  of  which  he 
travelled;  the  third  was  from  the  falls  of  the  Rappahannock,  west- 
ward,  to   the  mountains. 

Certain  Englishmen  were  appointed  by  Berkeley  to  accompany 
nim;  these,  however,  forsook  him  and  turned  back.  Lederer  pro- 
ceeded, notwithstanding,  alone;  and  on  his  return  to  Virginia  (which, 
by  the  way,  was  never  expected),  met  with  insult  and  reproaches, 
instead  of  the  cordial  welcome  to  which  he  was  entitled.  For  this 
he  was  indebted  to  his  English  companions  who  had  forsaken  him; 
and  so  active  were  they  in  creating  a  prejudice  against  him,  that  he 
was  not  safe  among  the  people  of  Virginia,  who  had  been  told  that  the 
public  taxes  of  that  year  had  all  been  expended  in  his  wanderings. 

Under  these  circumstances  he  went  into  Maryland,  and  there  suc- 
ceeded finally  in  obtaining  a  hearing  from  the  governor,  Sir  WiUiam 
Talbot,  and  in  submitting  his  papers  to  him.  The  governor,  though 
at  first  much  prejudiced  against  the  man  by  the  stories  he  had 
heard,  yet  found  him,  as  he  says,  ' '  a  modest,  ingenious  person,  and  a 
pretty  scholar;"  and  Lederer  vindicated  himself  "with  so  convincing 
reason  and  circumstance,"  as  Talbot  says,  that  he  quite  removed  all 
unfavorable  impressions,  and  the  governor  himself  took  the  trouble 
to  translate  from  the  Latin  and  publish  Lederer' s  account  of  his 
journeyings. 

A  map  of  his  explorations  accompanies  Talbot's  translation,  and 
by  the  aid  of  that  we  have  endeavored  to  trace,  as  well  as  we  could, 
the  German's  wanderings  within  the  present  boundaries  of  North 
Carolina.] 


IITDIAFS  OF   NORTH  CAEOLINA. 


89 


The  twentieth  of  May,  1670,  one  Major  Harris  and  myself,  with 
twenty  Christian  horse  and  five  Indians,  marched  from  the  falls  of 
James  River,  in  Virginia,  towards  the  Monakins;  and  on  the  two- 
and-twentieth  were  welcomed  by  them  with  volleys  of  shot.  Near 
this  village  we  observed  a  pyramid  of  stones  piled  up  together,  which, 
their  priests  told  us,  was  the  number  of  an  Indian  colony  drawn  out 


mm    III!]]     HIMI    mill    Jillll    rm     imii    uui     mii.     Jim     i.Ni    m,i „ 


r  ofeo^rttish  MOtt . 

\o       1*9        '^9      'so      V« 


DTSCKJnTION  OF- 

^  Order  of  the 


mm    ||jiu     ||||»— iTiTiii    mn      im 

37' 


Ogilby's  map  of  Caroliua.    From  Hawks'  History  of  North  Carolina. 

by  lot  from  a  neighbor  country  over-peopled,  and  led  hither  by  one 
Monack,  from  whom  they  take  the  name  of  Monakin.  Here  inquiring 
the  way  to  the  mountains,  an  ancient  man  described,  with  a  staff, 
two  paths  on  the  ground,  one  pointing  to  the  Mohocks,  and  the  other 
to  the  NaJiyssans. 


90 


INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAEOLINA. 


[The  Mahocks,  from  Leclerer's  map,  would  appear  to  have  been 
Hving  near  the  dividing  line  of  Nelson  and  Albemarle  counties,  at  the 
junction  of  the  Kockfish  with  the  James  River.  The  locality  of  the 
iSTahyssans  appears,  from  Robert  Morden's  map  of  Carolina  (1687), 
and  also  from  Ogilby's,  to  have  been  west  of  the  Mahocks,  between 
them  and  the  first  range  of  the  mountains.] 


But  my  English  companions,  slighting  the  Indian's  direction, 
shaped  their  course  by  the  compass  due  west;  and  therefore  it  fell  out 
with  us,  as  it  does  with  those  land-crabs  that,  crawling  backwards  in 
a  direct  line,  avoid  not  the  trees  that  stand  in  their  way,  but  climbing 
over  their  very  tops  come  down  again  on  the  other  side,  and  so,  after 
a  day's  labor,  gain  not  above  two  feet  of  ground.  Thus  we,  obsti- 
nately pursuing  a  due  west  course,  rode  over  steep  and  craggy  cliffs 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA. 


91 


which  beat  our  horses  quite  off  the  hoof.  In  these  mountains  we 
wandered  from  the  25th  of  May  till  the  3d  of  June,  finding  very  httle 
sustenance  for  man  or  horse,  for  these  places  are  destitute  both  of 
grain  and  herbage. 

The  third  of  June  we  came  to  the  south  branch  of  James  River, 
which  Major  Harris,  observing  to  run  northwardly,  vainly  imagined 


to  be  an  arm  of  the  Lake  of  Canada,  and  was  so  transported  with  this 
fancy  that  he  would  have  raised  a  pillar  to  the  discovery,  if  the  fear  of 
the  Mahock  Indian  and  want  of  food  had  permitted  him  to  stay. 
Here  I  moved  to  cross  the  river  and  march  on;  but  the  rest  of  the 
company  were  so  weary  of  the  enterprise,  that,  crying  out,  one  and  all. 


92  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

they  would  have  offered  violence  to  me,  had  I  not  been  provided  with 
a  private  commission  from  the  Governor  of  Virginia  to  proceed, 
though  the  rest  of  the  company  should  abandon  me — the  sight  of 
which  laid  then-  fury. 

The  lesser  hills,  or  Akontshuck,  are  here  impassable,  being  both 
steep  and  craggy.  The  rocks  seemed  to  me,  at  a  distance,  to  resemble 
eggs  set  up  on  end. 

James  River  is  here  as  broad  as  it  is  about  a  hundred  miles  lower,  at 
Monakin;  the  passage  over  it  is  very  dangerous  by  reason  of  the 
rapid  torrents  made  by  rocks  and  shelves  forcing  the  water  into 
narrow  channels.  From  an  observation  which  we  made  of  straws 
and  rotten  chunks  ^  hanging  in  the  boughs  of  trees  on  the  bank,  and 
two-and-twenty  feet  above  water,  we  argued  that  the  melted  snow 
falling  from  the  mountains  swelled  the  river  to  that  height,  the  flood 
carrying  down  that  rubbish  which,  upon  the  abatement  of  the  inun- 
dation, remained  in  the  trees. 

The  air  in  these  parts  was  so  moist  that  all  our  biscuits  became 
mouldy  and  unfit  to  be  eaten,  so  that  some  nicer  stomachs,  who,  at 
our  setting  out,  laughed  at  my  provision  of  Indian-meal  parched, 
would  gladly  now  have  shared  with  me;  but  I  being  determined 
to  go  upon  further  discoveries,  refused  to  part  with  any  of  that 
which  was  to  be  my  most  necessary  sustenance. 

The  fifth  of  June,  my  company  and  I  parted,  good  friends,  they 
back  again,  and  I,  with  one  Susquehanna  Indian,  named  Jackzetavon, 
only,  in  pursuit  of  my  first  enterprise,  changing  my  course  from 
west  to  southwest  and  by  south  to  avoid  the  mountains.  Major 
Harris,  in  parting,  gave  me  a  gun,  believing  me  a  lost  man,  and  given 
up  as  a  prey  to  Indians  or  savage  beasts,  which  made  him  the  bolder 
to  report  strange  things  in  his  own  praise  and  my  disparagement, 
presuming  I  would  never  appear  to  disprove  him.  This,  I  suppose, 
and  no  other,  was  the  cause  that  he  did  with  so  much  industry  procure 
me  discredit  and  odium;  but  I  have  lost  nothing  by  it  but  what  I 
never  studied  to  gain,  which  is  popular  applause. 

From  the  fifth,  which  was  Sunday,  untd  the  ninth  of  June,  I 
travelled  through  difficult  ways,  without  seeing  any  town  or  Indian, 
and  then  I  arrived  at  Sapon,  a  town  of  the  Nahyssans,  about  a  hun- 
dred miles  distant  from  Mahock,  situate  upon  a  branch  of  Shawan, 
alias  Rorenock  River. 

[By  SJiawan,  Lederer  means  Chowan,  which  he  here  confounds 
with  Roanoke.  On  Morden's  map  (1687),  and  on  Ogilby's  (1671), 
the  Chowan  is  called  Rokahak,  while  the  Moratoc  or  Roanoke  is 
called  Noratoke.  The  Staunton  and  the  Dan  form  the  latter  river, 
and  it  was  probably  on  some  of  the  tributaries  of  the  first-named 
stream  he  struck,  perhaps  on  the  Staunton  itself,  just  before  its 
junction  with  the  Dan.  He  had  changed  his  course,  as  he  teUs  us, 
to  S.  W.  by  S.,  to  avoid  the  mountains,  and  the  only  streams  to 
which  this  course  would  brmg  him  are  the  Staunton  and  its  northern 
tributaries.] 

And  though  I  had  just  cause  to  fear  these  Indians,  because  they  had 
been  in  continual  hostility  with  the  Christians  for  ten  years  before, 
yet  presuming  that  the  truck  which  I  carried  with  me  would  procure 

1  This  word  is  very  generally  used  at  the  South,  and  means  sometimes  the  end  of  small  logs,  partly  burned, 
and  then  extinguished;  and  at  others,  as  in  this  case,  broken  fragments  of  moderate  size  from  decayed  trees. 


INDIANS   OF   NOETH   CAEOLINA.  '  93 

my  welcome,  I  adventured  to  put  myself  into  their  power,  having 
heard  that  they  never  offer  any  injury  to  a  few  persons,  from  whom 
they  apprehend  no  danger;  nevertheless  they  examined  me  strictly, 
whence  I  came,  whither  I  went,  and  what  my  busmess  was.  But 
after  I  had  bestowed  some  trifles  of  glass  and  metal  amongst  them, 
they  were  satisfied  with  reasonable  answers,  and  I  received  with 
all  imaginable  demonstrations  of  kindness,  as  offering  of  sacrifice,  a 
compliment  showed  only  to  such  as  they  design  particularly  to  honor; 
but  they  went  further,  and  consulted  their  gods,  whether  they  should 
not  admit  me  into  their  nation  and  councils,  and  oblige  me  to  stay 
among  them  by  a  marriage  with  the  king's  or  some  of  their  great 
men's  daughters.  But  I,  though  with  much  ado,  waived  their 
courtesy,  and  got  my  passport,  having  given  my  word  to  return  to 
them  within  six  months. 

Sapon  is  within  the  limits  of  the  province  of  Carolina,  and  as  you 
may  perceive  by  the  figure,  has  all  the  attributes  requisite  to  a 
pleasant  and  advantageous  seat;  for,  though  it  stands  high  and  upon 
a  dry  land,  it  enjoys  the  benefit  of  a  stately  river  and  a  rich  soil, 
capable  of  producing  many  commodities,  which  may  hereafter  render 
the  trade  of  it  considerable. 

[We  must  here  remember  that  the  dividing  line  between  the  present 
States  of  Virginia  and  Carolina  was  not  then  estabhshed  as  it  is 
now  recognized.  From  Lederer's  map,  it  appears  that  all  that  part 
of  Virginia  lying  south  of  James  River,  and  extending  as  far  westward 
as  the  Blue  Ridge,  was  considered  by  him  as  part  of  Carolina,  and 
is  so  designated  on  his  map.  Sapon,  however,  would  appear  from 
his  map  to  have  been  in  North  Carolina,  or  just  be3^ond  the  present 
boundary,  in  Virginia.  Morden  places  it  just  south  of  the  dividing 
line,  in  Carolina,  on  the  upper  waters  of  what  we  call  the  Roanoke. 
It  was  the  chief  town  of  the  Nahyssans.] 

Not  far  distant  from  hence,  as  I  understood  from  the  Nahyssan 
Indians,  is  their  king's  residence,  called  Pintahce,  upon  the  same 
river,  and  happy  in  the  same  advantages  both  for  pleasure  and  profit, 
which  my  curiosity  would  have  led  me  to  see,  were  I  not  bound, 
both  by  oath  and  commission,  to  a  direct  pursuance  of  my  intended 
purpose  of  discovering  a  passage  to  the  further  side  of  the  mountains. 
This  nation  is  governed  by  an  absolute  monarch;  the  people  of  a 
high  stature,  warlike,  and  rich.  I  saw  great  store  of  pearl  unbored 
in  their  little  temples  or  oratories,  which  they  had  won,  amongst 
other  spoils,  from  the  Indians  of  Florida,  and  hold  in  as  great  esteem 
as  we  do. 

From  hence,  by  the  Indians'  instructions,  I  directed  my  course  to 
Akenatzy,  an  island  bearing  south  and  by  west,  and  about  fifty  miles 
distant,  upon  a  branch  of  the  same  river,  from  Sapon. 

[This  island  Akenatzy  is  possibly  what  is  found  on  Lawson's  map 
of  1709,  under  the  name  of  Aconeche,  in  the  Roanoke  River.] 

The  country  here,  though  high,  is  level,  and  for  the  most  part  a 
rich  soil,  as  I  judged  by  the  growth  of  the  trees;  yet  where  it  is  mhab- 
ited  by  Indians  it  lies  open  in  spacious  plains,  and  is  blessed  with  a 
very  healthful  air,  as  appears  by  the  age  and  vigor  of  the  people;  and 
though  I  travelled  in  the  month  of  June,  the  heat  of  the  weather  hin- 
dered me  not  from  riding  at  aU  hours  without  any  great  annoyance 
from  the  sun.  By  easy  journe3^s  I  landed  at  Akenatzy  upon  the 
twelfth  of  June.     The  current  of  the  river  is  here  so  strong  that  my 


94  INDIANS   OF    NOETH   CAROLINA. 

horse  had  much  difficulty  to  resist  it,  and  I  expected  every  step  to  be 
carried  away  with  the  stream. 

This  island,  though  small,  maintains  many  inhabitants,  who  are 
fixed  here  in  great  security,  being  naturally  fortified  with  fastnesses 
of  mountains,  and  water  on  every  side.  Upon  the  north  shore  they 
yearly  reap  great  crops  of  corn,  of  which  they  always  have  a  twelve- 
month's provision  aforehand,  against  an  invasion  from  their  powerful 
neighbors.  Their  government  is  under  two  kings,  one  presiding  in 
arms,  the  other  in  hunting  and  husbandry.  They  hold  all  things, 
except  their  wives,  in  common;  and  their  custom  in  eating  is,  that 
every  man,  in  his  turn,  feasts  all  the  rest,  and  he  that  makes  the 
entertainment  is  seated  betwixt  the  two  kings,  when,  having  highly 
commended  his  own  cheer,  they  carve  and  distribute  it  among  the 
guests. 

At  my  arrival  here  I  met  four  stranger  Indians,  whose  bodies  were 
painted  in  various  colors  with  figures  of  animals  whose  likeness  I  had 
never  seen;  and  by  some  discourse  and  signs  which  passed  between 
us,  I  gathered  that  they  were  the  only  survivors  of  fifty  who  set  out 
together  in  company  from  some  great  island,  as  I  conjecture,  to  the 
northwest;  for  I  understood  that  they  crossed  a  great  water,  in  which 
most  of  their  party  perished  by  tempest,  the  rest  dying  in  the  marshes 
and  mountains  by  famine  and  hard  weather,  after  a  two  months' 
travel  by  land  and  water  in  quest  of  this  island  of  Alcenatzy. 

The  most  reasonable  conjecture  that  I  can  frame  out  of  this  relation 
is,  that  these  Indians  might  come  from  the  island  of  New  Albion  or 
California,  from  whence  we  may  imagine  some  great  arm  of  the 
Indian  Ocean  or  bay  stretches  into  the  continent  towards  the  Apala- 
tsean  Mountains  in  the  nature  of  a  midland  sea,  in  which  many  of  these 
Indians  might  have  perished.  To  confirm  my  opinion  in  this  point, 
I  have  heard  several  Indians  testify  that  the  nation  of  RicTcohockans, 
who  dwell  not  far  to  the  westward  of  the  Apalatsean  Mountains,  are 
seated  upon  a  land,  as  they  term  it,  of  great  waves — by  which,  I 
suppose,  they  mean  the  sea-shore. 

[However  reasonable  this  conjecture  may  have  appeared  at  the 
time  to  Lederer,  with  such  geographical  knowledge  as  was  then  pos- 
sessed, we  think,  if  we  mistake  not  the  locality  in  which  the  German 
then  was,  a  much  more  reasonable  supposition  can  be  formed  by  us 
at  this  day.  He  was  on  an  island  in  the  Roanoke  River,  and,  as  we 
think,  in  that  part  of  the  river  that  flows  between  Halifax  and  North- 
ampton counties.  The  four  Indians  had  probably  come  from  the 
northeast  or  east,  and  the  great  water  they  crossed  was  nothing  more 
than  the  Sound,  for  their  whole  journey  had  occupied  a  space  of  time 
much  too  short  for  a  travel  from  any  great  body  of  water  to  the  west 
or  northwest.  If,  however,  they  came  from  the  northwest,  it  must 
have  been  from  the  borders  of  the  great  lakes,  which,  we  think,  was 
the  land  of  the  Rickohockans,  whom  he  mentions  in  the  next  para- 
graph as  distinct  from  these  four  Indians.  He  entertained,  it  will 
be  observed,  an  opinion  very  common  at  that  day,  that  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  extended  northwardly  mto  the  continent  much  further  than 
it  does,  and  he  had  a  very  imperfect  conception  of  the  entire  breadth 
of  the  continent.! 

The  next  day  after  my  arrival  at  AJcenatzy,  a  RickoTiockan  ambas- 
sador, attended  by  five  Indians  whose  faces  were  colored  with  auri- 
pigmentum   (in  which  mineral  these  parts  do  much  abound),  was 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  95 

received,  and  that  night  invited  to  a  ball,  of  their  fashion;  but  in 
the  height  of  their  mirth  and  dancing,  by  a  smoke  contrived  for  that 
purpose,  the  room  was  suddenly  darkened,  and,  for  what  cause  I 
know  not,  the  Rickohockan  and  his  retmue  barbarously  murdered. 
This  struck  me  with  such  an  affrightment,  that  the  very  next  day, 
without  taking  my  leave  of  them,  I  slunk  away  with  my  Indian  com- 
panion. Though  the  desire  of  informing  myself  further  concerning 
some  minerals,  as  auripigmentuin,  &c.,  which  I  there  took  especial 
notice  of,  would  have  persuaded  me  to  stay  longer  among  them,  had 
not  the  bloody  example  of  their  treachery  to  the  Rickohockans 
frightened  me  away. 

The  fourteenth  of  June,  pursuing  a  south  southwest  course,  some- 
times by  a  beaten  path  and  sometimes  over  hills  and  rocks,  I  was 
forced  to  take  up  my  quarters  in  the  woods;  for  though  the  Oenock 
Indians,  whom  I  then  sought,  were  not,  in  a  direct  line,  above  thirt}^ 
odd  miles  distant  from  AJcenatzy,  yet  the  ways  were  such,  and  obliged 
me  to  go  so  far  about,  that  I  reached  not  Oenock  until  the  sixteenth. 

[We  are  not  without  knowledge  of  the  locahty  of  the  OJianoaks. 
They  were  in  the  present  county  of  Bertie,  on  its  eastern  side  (see 
vol.  i.,  p.  113).  It  would,  therefore,  seem  that  Lederer  travelled 
down  from  Northampton,  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Roanoke  into 
Bertie,  towards  the  Chowan.] 

The  country  here,  by  the  industry  of  these  Indians,  is  very  open, 
and  clear  of  wood.  Their  town  is  built  round  a  field,  where,  in  their 
sports,  they  exercise  with  so  much  labor  and  violence  and  in  so  great 
numbers,  that  I  have  seen  the  ground  wet  with  the  sweat  that  dropped 
from  their  bodies.     Their  chief  recreation  is  slinging  of  stones. 

Fourteen  miles  west-southwest  of  the  Oenocks  dwell  the  SJiackory 
Indians,  upon  a  rich  soil,  and  yet  abounding  in  antimony,  of  which 
they  showed  me  considerable  quantities.  Finding  them  agree  with 
the  Oenocks  in  customs  and  manners,  I  made  no  stay  there,  but  pass- 
ing through  their  town  I  travelled  till  the  nineteenth  of  June,  and 
then,  after  a  two  days'  troublesome  journey  through  thickets  and 
marsh-grounds,  I  arrived  at  Watary,  above  forty  miles  distant,  and 
bearing  west-southwest  to  SJiakor. 

I  departed  from  Watary  the  one- and- twentieth  of  June,  and  keep- 
ing a  west  course  for  near  thirty  miles  I  came  to  Sara.  Here  I  found 
the  ways  more  level  and  easy.  I  did  likewise,  to  my  no  small  admira- 
tion, find  hard  cakes  of  white  salt  among  them;  but  whether  they 
were  made  of  sea  water  or  taken  out  of  salt-pits  I  know  not,  but  am 
apt  to  beheve  the  latter,  because  the  sea  is  so  remote  from  them. 

From  Sara  I  kept  a  south-southwest  course  until  the  five-and- 
twentieth  of  June,  and  then  I  reached  Wisaclcy.  This  tliree  days' 
march  was  more  troublesome  to  me  than  all  my  travels  besides,  for 
the  direct  way  wliich  I  took  from  Sara  to  Wisacky  is  over  a  continup,d 
I  marsh  overgrown  with  reeds,  from  whose  roots  spring  knotty  stumps, 
as  hard  and  sharp  as  ffint.  I  was  forced  to  lead  my  horse  most  part 
of  the  way,  and  wonder  that  he  was  not  either  plunged  in  the  bogs  or 
lamed  by  those  rugged  knots. 

This  nation  is  subject  to  a  neighbor  king  residing  upon  the  bank  of 
agreat  lake  called  UsJiery,  environed  of  all  sides  with  mountains  and 
Wisaclcy  marsh. 

The  six-and-twentieth  of  June,  having  crossed  a  fresh  river  which 
runs  into  the  lake  of  Ushery,  I  came  to  the  town,  which  was  more 


96  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

populous  than  any  I  had  seen  before  in  my  march.  The  king  dwells 
some  three  miles  from  it,  and  therefore  I  had  no  opportunity  of  see- 
ing him  the  two  nights  which  I  stayed  there.  This  prince,  though 
his  dominions  are  large  and  populous,  is  in  continual  fear  of  the 
Oustack  Indians,  seated  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  lake,  a  people  so 
addicted  to  arms  that  even  their  women  come  into  the  field  and 
shoot  arrows  over  their  husbands'  shoulders,  who  shield  them  with 
leathern  targets. 

The  water  of  TJshery  Lake  seemed  to  my  taste  a  little  brackish, 
which  I  rather  impute  to  some  mineral  waters  which  flow  into  it, 
than  to  any  saltness  it  can  take  from  the  sea,  which  we  may  reason- 
ably suppose  is  a  great  way  from  it.  Many  pleasant  rivulets  fall  into 
it,  and  it  is  stored  with  great  plenty  of  excellent  fish.  I  judged  it  to 
be  about  ten  leagues  broad,  for  were  not  the  other  shore  very  high  it 
could  not  be  discerned  from  TJshery.  How  far  this  lake  tends  west- 
wardly,  or  where  it  ends,  I  could  neither  learn  nor  guess. 

[It  is  difficult  to  determine  what  lake  it  is  that  Lederer  calls 
TJshery;  it  was,  however,  in  the  midst  of  extensive  swampy  lands, 
or,  as  he  terms  them,  marsh.  We  have  such  lands  in  Bertie,  Martin, 
Beaufort,  Washington,  Tyrrel,  and  Hyde  counties,  and  particularly 
in  the  three  last  named,  where  such  lands,  reclaimed,  form  some  of 
our  richest  plantations.  Was  he  somewhere  in  this  region  of  swamp 
lands  ?  The  only  lakes,  however,  of  much  importance  are  Lake 
Phelps  and  Matamuskeet  Lake.  If  he  were  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  Roanoke,  he  could  not  have  reached  these  without  crossing  the 
river,  and  yet  his  itinerary  mentions  no  such  crossing.  Neither  are 
we  aided  by  the  name  he  gives  to  the  Indians  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  lake:  we  know  of  no  tribe  called  Oustack  Indians.  The  nearest 
approach  to  it  is  Newsiok,  on  the  waters  of  Neuse,  and  not  on  any 
lake.  If,  when  he  left  the  island  AJcenatzy  in  the  Roanoke,  he  crossed 
to  the  western  bank  of  the  river,  he  might  have  found  swampy  lands 
in  Martin,  Beaufort,  and  Washington  counties,  supposing  him  to 
have  been  wandering  towards  Hyde;  but  how  then  would  he  have 
passed  through  the  region  of  the  Ohanoalcs,  which  was  certainly  in 
Bertie?  Beside,  Matamuskeet,  if  that  be  the  lake  referred  to,  was 
not  called  TJshery  by  the  natives.  Its  Indian  name  was  Paquipe. 
If  we  suppose  Lake  Phelps  to  be  meant,  how  shall  we  reconcile  such 
a  conjecture  with  the  size  he  gives  ?  Lake  Phelps,  we  tliink,  is  not 
thirty  miles  broad.  We  beheve  him  to  have  been  somewhere  in  the 
region  of  marshy  lands  we  have  named;  but  as  to  Lake  TJshery,  we 
freely  confess  we  cannot  fix  its  locality.  Col.  Byrd  says  that  the 
Indians  Uving  on  the  Santee  River  were  called  the  Usheries.] 

Here  I  made  a  day's  stay  to  inform  myself  further  in  these  coun- 
tries ;  and  understood  both  from  the  Usheries  and  some  Sara  Indians 
that  came  to  trade  with  them,  that  two  days'  journey  and  a  half 
from  hence  to  the  southwest,  a  powerful  nation  of  bearded  men  were 
seated,  which  I  suppose  to  be  the  Spaniards,  because  the  Indians 
never  have  any,  it  being  a  universal  custom  among  them  to  prevent 
their  growth  by  plucking  the  young  hair  out  by  the  roots. 

[Lederer  made  his  journey  in  1669-70,  and  may  be  correct  in  sup- 
posing the  bearded  men  to  be  Spaniards;  but  at  that  date  there  was 
a  settlement  of  Englishmen  that  would  answer  the  description  here 
given.  The  settlers  on  the  Cape  Fear  from  Barbadoes  commenced 
their  colony  in  1664,  and  these  may  have  been  the  bearded  men  re- 


INDIAIS^S   OF   NOETH   CAROLINA.  97 

f erred  to.  He  is  in  error,  however,  as  to  the  distance  of  the  bearded 
men  from  the  Indians.  It  was  more  than  a  journey  of  two  days  and 
a  half.] 

Not  thinking  fit  to  proceed  fiu-ther,  the  eight-and-twentieth  of  June 
I  faced  about  and  looked  homewards.  To  avoid  Wisacky  marsh  I 
shaped  my  course  northeast;  and  after  three  days'  travel  over  hilly 
ways,  where  I  met  with  no  path  or  road,  I  fell  into  a  barren,  sandy 
desert,  where  I  suffered  miserably  for  want  of  water, — the  heat  of 
summer  having  drunk  all  the  springs  dry,  and  left  no  sign  of  any,  but 
the  gravelly  channels  in  which  they  run :  so  that  if  now  and  then  I  had 
not  found  a  standing  pool,  which  provident  nature  set  round  with 
shady  oaks,  to  defend  it  from  the  ardor  of  the  sun,  my  Indian  com- 
panion, horse,  and  self  had  certainly  perished  with  thirst.  In  this 
distress  we  travelled  till  the  twelfth  of  July,  and  then  found  the  head 
of  a  river,  which  afterwards  proved  Eruco;  in  which  we  received,  not 
only  the  comfort  of  a  necessary  and  seasonable  refreshment,  but  like- 
wise the  hopes  of  coming  into  a  country  again,  where  we  might  find 
game  for  food  at  least,  if  not  discover  some  new  nation  or  people. 
Nor  did  our  hopes  fail  us;  for  after  we  had  crossed  the  river  twice,  we 
were  led  by  it,  upon  the  fourteenth  of  July,  to  the  town  of  Katearas, 
a  place  of  great  Indian  trade  and  commerce,  and  chief  seat  of  the 
haughty  emperor  of  the  TasTciroras,  called  Kaskusara,  vulgarly  called 
Kaskous.  His  grim  majesty,  upon  my  first  appearance,  demanded 
my  gun  and  shot,  which  I  willingly  parted  with,  to  ransom  myself  out 
of  his  clutches;  for  he  was  the  most  proud,  imperious  barbarian  that 
I  met  with  in  all  my  marches.  The  people  here  at  this  time  seemed 
prepared  for  some  extraordinary  solemnity;  for  the  men  and  the 
women  of  better  sort  had  decked  themselves  very  fine  with  pieces  of 
bright  copper  in  their  hair  and  ears  and  about  then*  arms  and  necks, 
which  upon  festival  occasions  they  use  as  an  extraordinary  bravery: 
by  which  it  would  seem  this  comitry  is  not  without  rich  mines  of 
copper.  But  I  durst  not  stay  to  inform  myself  in  it,  being  jealous  of 
some  sudden  mischief  towards  me  from  Kaskous,  his  nature  being 
bloody,  and  provoked  upon  any  slight  occasion. 

Therefore,  leaving  Katearas,  I  travelled  through  the  woods  until  the 
sixteenth,  upon  which  I  came  to  Kawitziokan,  an  Indian  town  upon  a 
branch  of  Rorenoke  River,  which  here  I  passed  over,  continuing  my 
joinney  to  Menchcerink;  and  on  the  seventeenth  departing  from 
thence,  I  lay  all  night  in  the  woods,  and  the  next  morning  betimes 
going  by  Natoway,  I  reached  that  evening  Apamatuck,  in  Virginia, 
where  I  was  not  a  little  overjoyed  to  see  Christian  faces  again. 

[From  Lederer's  account,  the  conjecture  that  seems  most  probable 
is,  that  taking  a  course  southwest  and  by  south  from  the  falls  of  James 
River,  he  came  upon  the  Roanoke  in  North  Carolina,  and  crossed  it 
at  the  island  which  he  calls  Akenatzy,  if  he  crossed  it  at  all.  This 
island  is  between  Halifax  and  Northampton,  I  apprehend.  His 
wandering  then  took  him  into  some  of  those  counties  where  our 
swamp  lands  are  most  abundant,  and  he  certainly  was  in  Bertie,  from 
which,  pursuing  a  northeast  course,  he  returned  to  Virginia,  and  cross- 
ing the  Nottoway,  proceeded  to  the  Appomatox,  which  he  followed 
to  its  junction  with  the  James.  The  distances  he  gives,  added  to- 
gether, after  his  entrance  into  North  Carolina,  would  make  his  wan- 
derings m  our  State  some  two  hundred  miles;  and  as  he  was  among 

75321°— S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 7 


98  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAEOLINA. 

the  Ohanoaks  and  Tuscaroras,  he  was  certainly  in  Bertie.  He,  how- 
ever, was  not  the  first  European  who  had  seen  that  land.  Eighty-five 
years  before,  the  hardy  adventurers  under  Lane  had  placed  their  feet 
upon  it,  though  their  inland  explorations  were  much  less  extensive 
than  those  of  Lederer.  It  is  proper,  however,  to  add,  that  from  the 
localities  he  names,  as  they  appear  on  Ogilby's  map  (1671),  which  we 
subjoin  to  this  account,  his  wanderings  would  appear  to  have  been 
much  more  extensive  than  we  have  made  them.  Watery,  Sara, 
Wisaclci,  and  TJshery  would  all  appear  to  have  been  in  South  Carolina, 
the  last  directly  west  of  Charleston.  If  he  made  this  journey,  then, 
entering  the  State  somewhere  in  Warren  county,  he  must  have  crossed 
it  in  a  southwestern  line,  and  passing  through  Robeson  county  into 
South  Carolina,  must  have  traversed  that  State  also  in  its  entire  width. 
We  cannot  believe  this.  The  time  occupied  would  not  have  been 
sufficient  for  it.  Lederer's  itinerary  presents  difficulties  which  we 
confess  we  cannot  satisfactorily  solve. 

On  the  map  of  Lederer,  as  well  as  on  that  of^Ogilby,  both  of  which 
we  subjoin,  the  reader  will  perceive  a  river  named  Torpoeo.  This  is 
erroneously  made  to  empty  into  the  Roanoke.  A  comparison  of  its 
position  with  other  localities  shows  it  to  have  been  what  is  commonly, 
though  improperly,  called  the  Tar  River.  Its  name  is  not  Tar,  though 
Col.  Byrd  called  it  by  that  name  more  than  one  hundred  years  ago. 
Others  have  supposed  its  original  Indian  name  to  be  Taw  or  Tau, 
which  Williamson,  with  his  customary  dogmatism,  ignorantly  states 
meant  "Health."  It  never  had  such  a  meaning  in  any  dialect  of  the 
Algonquin  or  Iroquois  that  we  have  met  with — and  these  were  the 
two  mother  languages  of  the  Indians  of  the  eastern  side  of  North  Caro- 
lina— nor  was  there  any  such  Indian  word,  as  far  as  we  can  discover; 
though  such  a  syllaUe,  formed  from  an  Indian  word,  is  found  in  the 
composition  of  Indian  words,  according  to  the  known  polythinseticism 
of  our  Indian  tongues.  But  the  river  was,  notwithstanding,  called 
Taw,  for  we  find  (as  I  am  informed  by  a  friend  ^  that  name  applied 
in  a  patent  of  1729.  Wheeler,  Simms,  Emmons,  and  Cook,  all  mod- 
ern authorities,  repudiating  "Tar,"  call  it  "Tau."  Mr.  Clark  thinks 
that,  from  analogy,  it  should  be  written  Taw,  and  cites  the  names 
Haw,  C&tawha,,  Chickasaw,  Choctaw,  where  the  syllable  terminates 
with  w.  But  the  fact  is,  that  in  the  orthography  of  Indian  names  and 
words,  it  is  important  to  know  to  what  country  the  individual  be- 
longed who  first  wrote  them  down  for  the  eye  of  civilized  man ;  other- 
wise the  pronunciation  may  be  mistaken.  For  ourselves,  while  we 
are  quite  sure  the  river's  true  name  never  was  Tar,  we  doubt  whether 
Taw  is  the  original  word.  Words  of  one  syllable  are  exceedingly  rare 
in  the  Indian  languages,  and  especially  in  the  names  of  places.  They 
are  almost  invariably  compounds.  Its  Indian  name  was  Torpao,  and 
we  think  it  should  be  so  called  now.  Taw  is  but  a  corruption  of  the 
first  syllable  Tor.  We  have  tried  in  vain  to  discover  the  meaning  of 
the  compound  Tor-pseo.] 

1  H.  T.  Clark,  Esq.,  of  Edgecombe. 


EXHIBIT   E. 

LAWSON'S  HISTORY  OF  CAROLINA. 

The  history  of  Carolina;  containing  the  exact  description  and  natural  history  of  that 
country";  together  with  the  present  state  thereof.  And  a  journal  of  a  thousand 
miles,  traA'el'd  thro'  several  nations  of  Indians,  gi\"ing  a  particular  account  of 
their  customs,  manners,  &c.  By  John  Lawson,  Gent.  Surveyor-General  of  North 
Carolina.  London:  Printed  for  T.  Warner,  at  the  Black-Boy  in  Pater-Xoster 
Row,  1718.     Price  bound  five  shillings. 

To  His  Excellency  William  Lord  Cravex,  Palatine;  The  most  Noble, 
Heney  Duke  of  Bealtort  ;  The  Right  Hon'''®  Johx  Lord  Caeteret; 
The  Hon'''®  ^Maltiice  Ashley,  Esq:  Sir  John  Colletox,  Baronet, 
Johx  Daxsox,  Esq ;  And  the  rest  of  the  True  and  Absolute  Lords- 
Proprietors  of  the  Province  of  Carolina  in  America. 

My  Lords,  As  Debts  of  Gratitude  ought  most  punctually  to  be 
paid,  so,  where  the  Debtor  is  uncapable  of  Pajnnent,  Acknowledg- 
ments ought,  at  least,  to  be  made.  I  cannot,  in  the  least,  pretend  to 
retaliate  Y^our  Lordships  Favours  to  me,  but  must  farther  intrude 
on  that  Goodness  of  which  I  have  aheady  had  so  good  Experience, 
by  laying  these  Sheets  at  Your  Lordships  Feet,  where  they  beg 
Protection,  as  having  nothing  to  recommend  them,  but  Truth;  a 
Gift  which  every  Author  may  be  blaster  of,  if  he  will. 

I  here  present  Your  Lordships  with  a  Description  of  your  own 
Country,  for  the  most  part,  in  her  Natural  Dress,  and  therefore  less 
vitiated  with  Fraud  and  Luxury.  A  Country,  whose  Inhabitants 
may  enjoy  a  Life  of  the  greatest  Ease  and  Satisfaction,  and  pass  away 
their  Hours  in  solid  Contentment. 

Those  Charms  of  Liberty  and  Right,  the  Darlings  of  an  English 
Nature,  which  Your  Lordships  grant  and  maintain,  make  you  appear 
Noble  Patrons  in  the  Eyes  of  all  Men,  and  we  a  happy  People  in  a 
Foreign  Country;  which  nothing  less  than  Ingratitude  and  Baseness 
can  make  us  disoTvm. 

As  Heaven  has  been  liberal  in  its  Gifts,  so  are  Your  Lordships 
favourable  Promoters  of  whatever  may  make  us  an  easy  People; 
which,  I  hope,  Your  Lordships  will  continue  to  us  and  our  Posterity; 
and  that  we  and  they  may  always  acknowledge  such  Favours,  by 
banishing  from  among  us  every  Principle  which  renders  Men  factious 
and  unjust,  which  is  the  hearty  Prayer  of. 

My  Lords,  Your  Lordships  most  obliged,  most  humble,  and  most 
devoted  Servant, 

John  Lawson. 

Preface. 

'Tis  a  great  Misfortune,  tJiat  most  of  our  Travellers,  who  go  to  this  vast 
Continent  in  America,  are  Persons  of  the  meaner  Sort,  and  generally  of 
a  very  slender  Education;  v:ho  being  hir'd  by  the  Mercliants,  to  trade 
amongst  the  Indians,  in  whicJi  Voyages  they  often  spend  several  Years, 
are  yet,  at  their  Return,  uncapable  of  giving  any  reasonable  Account  of 

d9 


100  INDIANS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

what  they  met  withal  in  those  remote  Parts;  tho'  the  Country  abounds 
with  Curiosities  worthy  a  nice  Observation.  In  this  Point,  I  thinlc,  the 
French  outstrip  us. 

First,  By  their  Numerous  Clergy,  their  Missionaries  being  obedient 
to  their  Superiors  in  the  highest  Degree,  and  that  Obedience  being  one 
great  Article  of  their  Vow,  and  strictly  observ'd  amongst  all  their  Orders. 

Secondly,  They  always  send  abroad  some  of  their  Gentlemen  in  Com- 
"pany  of  the  Missionaries,  who,  upon  their  Arrival,  are  order' d  out 
into  the  Wilderness,  to  nuike  Discoveries,  and  to  acquaint  themselves  with 
the  Savages  0/ America;  and  are  oblig'd  to  Iceep  a  strict  Journal  of  all 
the  Passages  they  meet  withal,  in  order  to  present  the  same  not  only  to 
their  Governors  and  Fathers,  but  likewise  to  their  Friends  and  Relations 
in  France;  which  is  industriously  spread  about  that  Kingdom,  to  their 
Advantage.  For  their  Monarch  being  a  very  good  Judge  of  Mens  Deserts, 
does  not  often  let  Money  or  Interest  make  men  of  Parts  give  Place  to 
otliers  of  less  Worth.  This  breeds  an  Honourable  Emulation  amongst 
them,  to  outdo  one  another,  even  in  Fatigues,  and  Dangers  whereby 
they  gain  a  good  Correspondence  with  the  Indians,  and  acquaint  therrir- 
selves  with  their  Speech  and  Customs;  and  so  make  considerable  Dis- 
coveries in  a  short  time.  Witness,  their  Journals  from  Canada,  to  the 
Missisipi,  and  its  several  Branches,  where  they  have  effected  great  Matters, 
in  a  few  Years. 

Having  spent  most  of  my  time,  during  my  eight  Years  Abode  in 
Carolina,  in  travelling;  I  not  only  survey' d  the  Sea- Coast  and  those 
Parts  which  are  already  inhabited  by  the  Christians,  but  likewise  view'd 
a  spatious  Tract  of  Land,  lying  betwixt  the  Inhabitants  and  the  Ledges  of 
Mountains,  from  whence  our  noblest  Rivers  have  their  Rise,  running 
towards  the  Ocean,  where  they  water  as  pleasant  a  Country  as  any  in 
Europe;  the  Discovery  of  which  being  never  yet  made  publick,  I  have,  in 
the  following  Sheets,  given  you  a  faithful  Account  thereof,  wherein  I  have 
laid  down  every  thing  with  Impartiality,  and  Truth,  which  is  indeed, 
the  Duty  of  every  Author,  and  preferable  to  a  smooth  stile,  accompany' d 
with  Falsities  and  Hyperboles. 

Great  Part  of  this  pleasant  and  healtlful  Country  is  inhabited  by  none 
but  Savages,  who  covet  a  Christian  Neighhoiliood,  for  the  Advantage  of 
Trade,  and  enjoy  all  the  Comforts  of  Life,  free  from  Care  and  Want. 

But  not  to  amuse  my  Readers  any  longer  with  the  Encomium  of 
Carolina,  /  refer  'em  to  my  Journal,  and  other  more  particular  Descrip- 
tion of  that  Country  and  its  Inhabitants,  which  they  will  find  after  the 
Natural  BQstory  thereof,  in  which  I  have  been  very  exact,  and  for 
Method's  sake,  rang'd  each  Species  under  its  distinct  and  proper  Head. 

Friday. — The  next  day,  we  were  preparing  for  our  Voyage,  and 
baked  some  Bread  to  take  along  with  us.  Our  Landlord  was  King 
of  the  Eadapau  Indians,  and  always  kept  two  or  three  trading  Gir£ 
in  his  Cabin.  Offering  one  of  these  to  some  of  our  Company,  who 
refused  his  Kindness,  ms  Majesty  flew  into  a  violent  Passion,  to  be  thus 
slighted,  telling  the  Englishmen,  they  were  good  for  nothing.  Our 
old  Gamester,  particularly,  hung  his  Ears  at  the  Proposal,  having 
too  lately  been  a  Loser  by  that  sort  of  Merchandize.  It  was  observ- 
able, that  we  did  not  see  one  Partridge  from  the  Waterrees  to  this 
Elace,  tho'  my  Spaniel-Bitch,  which  I  nad  with  me  in  this  Voyage, 
ad  put  up  a  great  many  before. 


4WSON'S    MAP    OF   THE    CAROLINAS. 


INDIANS   OF    NOETH   CAROLHSTA.  101 

Saturday. — On  Saturday  Mornirig,  we  all  set  out  for  Sajjona,  lolling, 
in  these  Creeks,  several  Ducks  of  a  strange  Kind,  having  a  red  Circle 
about  their  Eyes,  like  some  Pigeons  that  I  have  seen,  a  Top-knot 
reaching  from  the  Crown  of  their  Heads,  almost  to  the  middle  of 
their  Backs,  and  abundance  of  Feathers  of  pretty  Shades  and  Colours. 
They  prov'd  excellent  Meat.  Likewise,  here  is  good  store  of  Wood- 
cocks, not  so  big  as  those  in  England,  the  Feathers  of  the  Breast 
being  of  a  Carnation-Colour,  exceeding  ours  for  Dehcacy  of  Food. 
The  Marble  here  is  of  different  Colours,  some  or  other  of  the  Rocks 
representing  most  Mixtures,  but  chiefly  the  white  having  black  and 
blue  Veins  in  it,  and  some  that  are  red.  This  day,  we  met  with  seven 
heaps  of  Stones,  being  the  Monuments  of  seven  Indians,  that  were  slain 
in  that  place  by  the  S'nnagers,  or  Troquois.  Our  Indian  Guide  added 
a  Stone  to  each  heap.  We  took  up  our  Lodgings  near  a  Brook-side, 
where  the  Virginia  Man's  Horses  got  away;  and  went  back  to  the 
Kadapau's. 

Sunday. — This  day,  one  of  our  Company,  with  a  Sapona  Indian, 
who  attended  Stewart,  went  back  for  the  Horses.  In  the  mean  time, 
we  went  to  shoot  Pigeons,  which  were  so  numerous  in  these  Parts, 
that  you  might  see  many  Millions  in  a  Flock;  they  sometimes  split 
off  the  Limbs  of  stout  Oaks,  and  other  Trees,  upon  which  they  roost 
o'  Nights.  You  may  find  several  Indian  Towns,  of  not  above  17 
Houses,  that  have  more  than  100  Gallons  of  Pigeons  Oil,  or  Fat;  they 
using  it  with  Pulse,  or  Bread,  as  we  do  Butter,  and  making  the 
Ground  as  white  as  a  sheet  with  their  Dung.  The  Indians  take  a 
Light,  and  go  among  them  in  the  Night,  and  bring  away  some  thou- 
sands, killing  them  with  long  Poles,  as  they  roost  in  the  Trees.  At 
this  time  of  the  Year,  the  Flocks,  as  they  pass  by,  in  great  measure, 
obstruct  the  Light  of  the  day. 

Monday. — On  Monday,  we  went  about  25  Miles,  travelling  through 
a  pleasant  dry  Country,  and  took  up  our  Lodgings  by  a  Hillside,  that 
was  one  entire  Rock,  out  of  which  gush'd  out  pleasant  Fountains 
of  well-tasted  Water. 

Tuesday. — The  next  day,  still  passing  along  such  Land  as  we  had 
done  for  many  days  before,  which  was.  Hills  and  Valhes,  about  10 
a  Clock  we  reach' d  the  Top  of  one  of  these  Mountains,  which  yielded 
us  a  fine  Prospect  of  a  very  level  Country,  holding  so,  on  all  sides, 
farther  than  we  could  discern.  When  we  came  to  travel  through  it, 
we  found  it  very  stiff  and  rich,  being  a  sort  of  Marl.  This  Valley 
afforded  as  large  Timber  as  any  I  ever  met  withal,  especially^  of 
Chesnut  Oaks,  which  render  it  an  excellent  Country  for  raising 
great  Herds  of  Swine.  Indeed,  were  it  cultivated,  we  might  have 
good  hopes  of  as  pleasant  and  fertile  a  Valley,  as  any  our  English  in 
America  can  afford.  At  Night,  we  lay  by  a  swift  Current,  where  we 
saw  plenty  of  Turkies,  but  perch'd  upon  such  lofty  Oaks,  that  our 
Guns  would  not  kill  them,  tho'  we  shot  very  often,  and  our  Guns  were 
very  good.  Some  of  our  Company  shot  several  times,  at  one  Turkey, 
before  he  would  fly  away,  the  Pieces  being  loaded  with  large  Goose- 
shot. 

Wednesday. — Next  Morning,  we  got  our  Breakfast;  roasted  Acorns 
being  one  of  the  Dishes.  The  Indians  beat  them  into  Meal,  and 
thicken  their  Venison-Broth  with  them;  and  oftentimes  make  a 
palatable  Soop.  They  are  used  instead  of  Bread,  boiling  them  till 
the  Oil  swims  on  the  top  of  the  Water,  which  they  preserve  for  use, 


102  INDIANS    OP    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

eating  the  Acorns  with  Flesh-meat.  We  travelFd,  this  day,  about 
25  Miles,  over  pleasant  Savanna  Ground,  high,  and  dry,  having  very 
few  Trees  upon  it,  and  those  standing  at  a  great  distance.  The 
Land  was  very  good,  and  free  from  Grubs  or  Underwood.  A  Man 
near  Sapona  may  more  easily  clear  10  Acres  of  Ground,  than  in  some 
places  he  can  one;  there  being  much  loose  Stone  upon  the  Land, 
lying  very  convenient  for  making  of  dry  Walls,  or  any  other  sort  of 
durable  Fence.  This  Country  abounds  likewise  with  curious  bold 
Creeks,  (navigable  for  small  Craft)  disgorging  themselves  into  the  main 
Rivers,  that  vent  themselves  into  the  Ocean.  These  Creeks  are  well 
stor'd  with  sundry  sorts  of  Fish,  and  Fowl,  and  are  very  convenient 
for  the  Transportation  of  what  Commodities  this  Place  may  produce. 
This  Night,  we  had  a  great  deal  of  Rain,  with  Thunder  and  Lightning. 
Thursday. — Next  Morning,  it  proving  delicate  Weather,  three  of  us 
separated  ourselves  from  the  Horses,  and  the  rest  of  the  Company, 
and  went  directly  for  Sapona  Town.  That  day,  we  pass'd  through 
a  delicious  Country,  (none  that  I  ever  saw  exceeds  it.)  We  saw  fine 
bladed  Grass,  six  Foot  high,  along  the  Banks  of  these  pleasant 
Rivulets:  We  pass'd  by  the  Sepulchres  of  several  slain  Indians. 
Coming,  that  day,  about  30  Miles,  we  reach'd  the  fertile  and  pleasant 
Banks  of  Sapona  River,  whereon  stands  the  Indian  Town  and  Fort. 
Nor  could  all  Europe  afford  a  pleasanter  Stream,  were  it  inhabited 
by  Christians,  and  cultivated  by  ingenious  Hands.  These  Indians 
live  in  a  clear  Field,  about  a  Mile  square,  which  they  would  have  sold 
me;  because  I  talked  sometimes  of  coming  into  those  Parts  to  live. 
This  most  pleasant  River  may  be  something  broader  than  the  Thames 
at  Kingston,  keeping  a  continual  pleasant  warbling  Noise,  with  its 
reverberating  on  the  bright  Marble  Rocks.  It  is  beautified  with  a 
numerous  Train  of  Swans,  and  other  sorts  of  Water-Fowl,  not  com- 
mon, though  extraordinary  pleasing  to  the  Eye.  The  forward 
Sprmg  welcom'd  us  with  her  innumerable  Train  of  small  Choristers, 
which  nhabit  those  fair  Banks;  the  Hills  redoubling,  and  adding 
Sweetness  to  their  melodious  Tunes  by  their  shrill  Echoes.  One 
side  of  the  River  is  hemm'd  in  with  mountainy  Ground,  the  other 
side  proving  as  rich  a  Soil  to  the  Eye  of  a  laiowing  Person  with  us, 
as  any  this  Western  World  can  afford.  We  took  up  our  Quarters 
at  the  King's  Cabin,  who  was  a  good  Friend  to  the  English,  and  had 
lost  one  of  his  Eyes  in  their  Vindication.  Being  upon  his  march 
towards  the  Appallache  Mountains,  amongst  a  Nation  of  Indians 
in  their  Way,  there  happen'd  a  Difference,  while  they  were  measuring 
of  Gunpowder;  and  the  Powder,  by  accident,  taking  fire,  blew  out 
one  of  this  King's  Eyes,  and  did  a  great  deal  more  mischief,  upon  the 
spot:  Yet  this  Sapona  King  stood  firmly  to  the  English  Man's  Interest, 
with  whom  he  was  in  Company,  still  siding  with  him  against  the 
Indians.  They  were  intended  for  the  South  Sea,  but  were  too  much 
fatigued  by  the  vast  Ridge  of  Mountains,  tho'  they  hit  the  right 
Passage;  it  being  no  less  than  five  days  Journey  through  a  Ledge  of 
Rocky  Hills,  and  sandy  Desarts.  And  which  is  yet  worse,  there  is 
no  Water,  nor  scarce  a  Bird  to  be  seen,  during  your  Passage  over 
these  barren  Crags  and  Valleys.  The  Sapona  River  proves  to  be  the 
West  Branch  of  Cape- Fair,  or  Clarendon  River,  whose  Inlet,  with 
other  Advantages,  makes  it  appear  as  noble  a  River  to  plant  a  Colony 
in,  as  any  I  have  met  withal. 


INDIANS   OF    NOETH    CAKOLIXA.  103 

The  Saponas  had  (about  10  days  before  we  came  thither)  taken 
Five  Prisoners  of  the  Sinnagers  or  Jennitos,  a  Sort  of  People  that 
range  several  thousands  of  ^Miles,  making  all  Prey  they  lay  their 
Hands  on.  These  are  fear'd  by  all  the  savage  Nations  I  ever  was 
among,  the  Westward  Indians  dreading  their  Approach.  They  are 
all  forted  in,  and  keep  continual  Spies  and  Out-Guards  for  their 
better  Security.  Those  Captives  they  did  intend  to  burn,  few 
Prisoners  of  War  escaping  that  Punishment.  The  Fire  of  Pitch- 
Pine  bemg  got  ready,  and  a  Feast  appointed,  which  is  solemnly  kept 
at  the  time  of  their  acting  this  Tragedy,  the  Sufferer  has  his  Body 
stuck  thick  with  Light- Wood-Splintere,  which  are  lighted  like  so 
many  Candles,  the  tortur'd  Person  dancing  round  a  great  Fire,  till 
his  Strength  fails,  and  disables  him  from  making  them  any  farther 
Pastime.  Most  commonly,  these  Wretches  behave  themselves  (in 
the  Mdst  of  their  Tortures)  with  a  great  deal  of  Bravery  and  Reso- 
lution, esteeming  it  Satisfaction  enough,  to  be  assur'd,  that  the  same 
Fate  will  befal  some  of  their  Tormentors,  whensoever  they  fall  into 
the  Hands  of  their  Nation.  More  of  this  you  will  have  in  the  other 
Sheets. 

The  Toteros,  a  neighbouring  Nation,  came  down  from  the  West- 
ward Mountains,  to  the  Saponas,  desiring  them  to  give  them  those 
Prisoners  into  their  Hands,  to  the  Intent  they  might  send  them  back 
into  their  own  Nation,  being  bound  in  Gratitude  to  be  serviceable 
to  the  Sinnagers,  since  not  long  ago,  those  'Novthevn- Indians  had 
taken  some  of  the  Toteros  Prisoners,  and  done  them  no  Harm,  but 
treated  them  civilly  whilst  among  them,  sending  them,  with  Safety, 
back  to  their  own  People,  and  affirming,  that  it  would  be  the  best 
Method  to  preserve  Peace  on  all  Sides.  At  that,  time  these  Toteros, 
Saponas,  and  the  Keyauwees,  3  small  Nations,  were  going  to  live 
together,  by  which  they  thought  they  should  strengthen  themselves, 
and  become  formidable  to  their  Enemies.  The  Reasons  offer' d  by 
the  Toteros  being  heard,  the  Sapona  King,  with  the  Consent  of 
his  Counsellors,  deliver' d  the  Sinnagers  up  to  the  Toteros,  to  conduct 
them  home. 

Friday  Morning,  the  old  Eling  having  shew'd  us  2  of  his  Horses, 
that  were  as  fat,  as  if  they  had  belong' d  to  the  Dutch  Troopers,  left 
us,  and  went  to  look  after  his  Bever-Traps,  there  being  abundance 
of  those  amphibious  Animals  in  this  River,  and  the  Creeks  adjoining. 
Taken  with  the  Pleasantness  of  the  Place,  we  walk'd  along  the 
River-side,  where  we  found  a  very  delightful  island,  made  by  the 
River,  and  a  Branch;  there  being  several  such  Plots  of  Ground 
environ' d  with  this  Silver  Stream,  which  are  fit  Pastures  for  Sheep, 
and  free  from  any  offensive  Vermin.  Nor  can  any  thing  be  desired 
by  a  contented  Alind,  as  to  a  pleasant  Situation,  but  what  may  here 
be  found;  Every  Step  presenting  some  new  Object,  which  still  adds 
Invitation  to  the  Traveller  in  these  Parts.  Our  Indian  King  and 
his  Wife  entertain' d  us  very  respectfully. 

Saturday.  Jan.  '31. — On  Saturday,  the  Indians  brought  in  some 
Swans,  and  Geese,  which  we  had  our  Share  of.  One  of  their  Doctors 
took  me  to  his  Cabin,  and  shew'd  me  a  great  Quantity  of  medicinal 
Drugs,  the  Produce  of  those  Parts;  Relating  their  Qualities  as  to  the 
Emunctories  they  work'd  by,  and  what  great  Maladies  he  had  heal'd 
by  them.  This  Evening,  came  to  us  the  Horses,  with  the  Remainder 
of  our  Company,  their  Indian  Guide  (who  was  a  Youth  of  this  Na- 


104  INDIANS   OF    NOBTH    CAROLINA. 

tion)  having  kill'd  in  their  Way,  a  very  fat  Doe,  Part  of  which  they 
brought  to  us. 

Sunday. — This  day,  the  King  sent  out  all  his  able  Hunters,  to  kill 
Game  for  a  great  Feast,  that  was  to  be  kept  at  their  Departure, 
from  the  Town,  which  they  offer' d  to  sell  me  for  a  small  matter. 
That  Piece  of  Ground,  with  a  little  Trouble,  would  make  an  English- 
man a  most  curious  Settlement,  containing  above  a  Mile  square 
of  rich  Land.  This  Evening,  came  down  some  Toteros,  tall,  likely 
Men,  having  great  Plenty  of  Buffelos,  Elks,  and  Bears,  with  other 
sort  of  Deer  amongst  them,  which  strong  Food  makes  large,  robust 
Bodies.  Enquiring  of  them,  if  they  never  got  any  of  the  Bezoar 
Stone,  and  giving  them  a  Description  how  it  was  found,  the  Indians 
told  me,  they  had  great  plenty  of  it;  and  ask'd  me.  What  use  I  could 
make  of  it  ?  I  answer' d  them.  That  the  white  Men  us'd  it  in  Physick, 
and  that  I  would  buy  some  of  them,  if  they  would  get  it  against  I 
came  that  wa^  again.  Thereupon,  one  of  them  pull'd  out  a  Leather- 
Pouch,  wherem  was  some  of  it  in  Powder;  he  was  a  notable  Hunter, 
and  affirm' d  to  me,  That  that  Powder,  blown  into  the  Eyes,  strength- 
en'd  the  Sight  and  Brain  exceedingly,  that  being  the  most  common  Use 
they  made  of  it.  I  bought,  for  2  or  3  Flints,  a  large  Peach-Loaf,  made 
up  with  a  pleasant  sort  of  Seed;  and  this  did  us  a  singular  Kindness, 
in  our  Journey.  Near  the  Town,  within  their  clear' d  Land,  are  several 
Bagnios,  or  Sweating-Houses,  made  of  Stone,  in  Shape  like  a  large 
Oven.  These  they  make  much  Use  of;  especially,  for  any  Pains  in 
the  Joints,  got  by  Cold,  or  Travelling.  At  Night,  as  we  lay  in  our 
Beds,  there  arose  the  most  violent  N.  W.  Wind  I  ever  knew.  The 
first  Puff  blew  down  all  the  Palisadoes  that  fortify' d  the  Town;  and 
I  thought  it  would  have  blown  us  all  into  the  River,  together  with  the 
Houses.  Our  one-ey'd  King,  who  pretends  much  to  the  Art  of  Con- 
juration, ran  out  in  the  most  violent  Hurry,  and  in  the  Middle  of  the 
Town,  fell  to  his  Necromantick  Practice;  tho'  I  thought  he  would 
have  been  blown  away  or  kill'd,  before  the  Devil  and  he  could  have 
exchang'd  half  a  dozen  Words;  but  in  two  Minutes,  the  Wind  was 
ceas'd,  and  it  became  as  great  a  Calm,  as  I  ever  knew  in  my  Life. 
As  I  much  admir'd  at  that  sudden  Alteration,  the  old  Man  told  me, 
the  Devil  was  very  angry,  and  had  done  thus,  because  they  had  not 
put  the  Sinnagers  to  Death. 

On  Monday  Morning,  our  whole  Company,  with  the  Horses,  set 
out  from  the  Sapona- Indian  Town,  after  having  seen  some  of  the 
Locust,  which  is  gotten  thereabouts,  the  same  Sort  that  bears 
Honey.  Going  over  several  Creeks,  very  convenient  for  Water- 
Mills,  about  8  Miles  from  the  Town,  we  pass'd  over  a  very  pretty 
River,  call'd  Rocky  River,  a  fit  Name,  having  a  Ridge  of  high  Moun- 
tains running  from  its  Banks,  to  the  Eastward;  and  disgorging  itself 
into  Sapona-RiveT;  so  that  there  is  a  most  pleasant  and  convenient 
Neck  of  Land,  betwixt  both  Rivers,  lying  upon  a  Point,  where  many 
thousand  Acres  may  be  fenced  in,  without  much  Cost  or  Labour. 
You  can  scarce  go  a  Mile,  without  meeting  with  one  of  these  small 
swift  Currents,  here  being  no  Swamps  to  be  found,  but  pleasant,  dry 
Roads  all  over  the  Country.  The  Way  that  we  went  tnis  day,  was 
as  full  of  Stones,  as  any  which  Craven,  in  the  West  of  YorksMre, 
could  afford,  and  having  nothing  but  Moggisons  on  my  Feet,  I  was 
so  lam'd  by  this  stony  Way,  that  I  thought  I  must  have  taken  up 
some  Stay  in  those  Parts.     We  went,  this  day,  not  above  15  or  20 


IInDIANS   of   NOETH   CAEOLIISrA.  105 

Miles.  After  we  had  siipp'd,  and  all  lay  do^vn  to  sleep,  there  came  a 
Wolf  close  to  the  Fire-side,  where  we  lay.  My  Spaniel  soon  discover'd 
him,  at  which,  one  of  our  Company  fir'd  a  Gun  at  the  Beast;  but,  I 
believe,  there  was  a  Mstake  in  the  loading  of  it,  for  it  did  him  no 
Harm.  The  Wolf  stay'd  till  he  had  almost  loaded  again,  but  the 
Bitch  making  a  great  Noise,  at  last  left  us  and  went  aside.  We  had 
no  sooner  laid  down,  but  he  approach'd  us  again,  yet  was  more  shy, 
so  that  we  could  not  get  a  Shot  at  him. 

Tuesday. — Next  day,  we  had  15  Allies  farther  to  the  Keyauwees. 
The  Land  is  more  mountainous,  but  extremely  pleasant,  and  an 
excellent  Place  for  the  breeding  Sheep,  Goats,  and  Horses;  or  Mules, 
if  the  English  were  once  brought  to  the  Experience  of  the  Usefulness 
of  those  Creatures.  The  Valloys  are  here  very  rich.  At  Noon,  we 
pass'd  over  such  another  stony  River,  as  that  eight  Miles  from 
Sapona.  This  is  cair'd  HeigJiwaree,  and  affords  as  good  blue  Stone 
for  Mill-Stones,  as  that  from  Cologn,  good  Rags,  some  Hones,  and 
large  Pebbles,  in  great  abundance,  besides  Free-Stone  of  severai 
Sorts,  all  very  useful.  I  knew  one  of  these  Hones  made  use  of  by 
an  Acquaintance  of  mine,  and  it  prov'd  rather  better  than  any  from 
Old  Spain,  or  elsewhere.  The  Veins  of  Marble  are  very  large  and 
curious  on  this  River,  and  the  Banks  thereof. 

Five  Miles  from  this  River,  to  the  N.  W.  stands  the  Keyauwees 
Town.  They  are  fortify' d  in,  with  wooden  Puncheons,  like  Sapona, 
being  a  People  much  of  the  same  Number.  Nature  hath  so  fortify' d 
this  Town,  with  Mountains,  that  were  it  a  Seat  of  War,  it  might 
easily  be  made  impregnable;  having  large  Corn-Fields  joining  to 
their  Cabins,  and  a  Savanna  near  the  Town,  at  the  Foot  of  these 
Mountains,  that  is  capable  of  keeping  some  hundred  Heads  of  Cattle. 
And  all  this  environ' d  round  with  very  high  Mountains,  so  that  no 
hard  Wind  ever  troubles  these  Inhabitants.  Those  high  Chfts  have 
no  Grass  growing  on  them,  and  very  few  Trees,  which  are  very  short, 
and  stand  at  a  great  Distance  one  from  another.  The  Earth  is  of  a 
red  Colour,  and  seems  to  me  to  be  wholly  design' d  by  Nature  for  the 
Production  of  Minerals,  being  of  too  hot  a  Quality,  to  suffer  any 
Verdure  upon  its  Surface.  These  Indians  make  use  of  Lead-Ore,  to 
paint  their  Faces  withal,  v/hich  they  get  in  the  neighbouring  Moun- 
tains. As  for  the  refining  of  Metals,  the  Indians  are  wholly  ignorant 
of  it,  being  content  with  the  Realgar.  But  if  it  be  my  Chance,  once 
more  to  visit  these  Hilly  Parts,  I  shall  make  a  longer  Stay  amongst 
them:  For  were  a  good  Vein  of  Lead  found  out,  and  work'd  by  an 
ingenious  Hand,  it  might  be  of  no  small  Advantage  to  the  Under- 
taker, there  being  great  Convenience  for  smelting,  either  by  Bellows 
or  Reverberation;  and  the  Working  of  these  !Mjiies  might  discover 
some  that  are  much  richer. 

At  the  Top  of  one  of  these  Mountains,  is  a  Cave  that  100  Men  may 
sit  very  conveniently  to  dine  in;  whether  natural,  or  artificial,  I 
could  not  learn.  There  is  a  fine  Bole  between  this  Place,  and  the 
Saps.  These  Valleys  thus  hemm'd  in  with  Mountains,  would  (doubt- 
less) prove  a  good  place  for  propagating  some  sort  of  Fruits,  that  our 
Easterly  Winds  commonly  blast.  The  Vine  could  not  mis  of  thriving 
well  here;  but  we  of  the  Northern  CHmate  are  neither  Artists,  nor 
curious,  in  propagating  that  pleasant  and  profitable  Vegetable. 
Near  the  Town,  is  such  another  Current,  as  HeigJiwaree.  We  being 
six  in  Company,  divided  ourselves  into  Two  Parties;  and  it  was  my 


106  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA. 

Lot  to  be  at  the  House  of  Keyauwees  Jack,  who  is  King  of  that 
People.  He  is  a  Congeree-Indian,  and  ran  away  when  he  was  a  Boy. 
He  got  this  Government  by  Marriage  with  the  Queen;  the  Female 
Issue  carrying  the  Heritage,  for  fear  of  Impostors;  the  Savages  well 
knowing,  how  much  Frailty  possesses  the  Indian  Women,  betwixt  the 
Garters  and  the  Girdle. 

Wednesday. — The  next  day,  having  some  occasion  to  write,  the 
Indian  King,  who  saw  me,  believ'd  that  he  could  write  as  well  as  I. 
Whereupon,  I  wrote  a  Word,  and  gave  it  him  to  copy,  which  he  did 
with  more  Exactness,  than  any  European  could  have  done,  that  was 
illiterate.  It  was  so  well,  that  he  who  could  read  mine,  might  have 
done  the  same  by  his.  Afterwards,  he  took  great  Delight  in  making 
Fish-hooks  of  his  own  Invention,  which  would  have  been  a  good 
Piece  for  an  Antiquary  to  have  puzzled  his  Brains  withal,  in  tracing 
out  the  Characters  of  all  the  Oriental  Tongues.  He  sent  for  several 
Indians  to  his  Cabin,  to  look  at  his  Handy-work,  and  both  he  and 
they  thought,  I  could  read  his  Writing  as  well  as  I  could  my  own. 
I  had  a  Manual  in  my  Pocket,  that  had  King  David's  Picture  in  it, 
in  one  of  his  private  Retirements.  The  Indian  ask'd  me.  Who  that 
Figure  represented  ?  I  told  him.  It  was  the  Picture  of  a  good  King, 
that  liv'd  according  to  the  Rules  of  Morality,  doing  to  all  as  he 
would  be  done  by,  ordering  aU  his  Life  to  the  Service  of  the  Creator 
of  aU  things;  and  being  now  above  us  all,  in  Heaven,  with  God 
Almighty,  who  had  rewarded  him  with  all  the  delightful  Pleasures 
imaginable  in  the  other  World,  for  his  Obedience  to  him  in  this;  I 
concluded,  with  telling  them,  that  we  received  nothing  here  below, 
as  Food,  Raiment,  <&c.  but  what  came  from  that  Omnipotent  Being. 
They  listned  to  my  Discourse  with  a  profound  Silence,  assuring  me, 
that  they  believ'd  what  I  said  to  be  true.  No  Man  living  will  ever 
be  able  to  make  these  Heathens  sensible  of  the  Happiness  of  a  future 
State,  except  he  now  and  then  mentions  some  lively  carnal  Repre- 
sentation, which  may  quicken  their  Apprehensions,  and  make  them 
thirst  after  such  a  gainful  Exchange;  for,  were  the  best  Lecture  that 
ever  was  preach'd  by  Man,  given  to  an  ignorant  sort  of  People,  in  a 
more  learned  Style,  than  their  mean  Capacities  are  able  to  under- 
stand, the  Intent  would  prove  ineffectual,  and  the  Hearers  would  be 
left  in  a  greater  Labyrinth  than  their  Teacher  found  them  in.  But 
dispense  the  Precepts  of  our  Faith  according  to  the  Pupil's  Capacity,  j 
and  there  is  nothing  in  our  Religion,  but  what  an  indifferent  Reason 
is,  in  some  measure,  able  to  comprehend;  tho'  a  New-England 
Minister  blames  the  French  Jesuits  for  this  way  of  Proceeding,  as 
being  quite  contrary  to  a  true  Christian  Practice,  and  affirms  it  to  be 
no  ready,  or  true  Method,  to  establish  a  lively  Representation  of  our 
Christian  Belief  amongst  these  Infidels. 

AU  the  Indians  hereabouts  carefully  preserve  the  Bones  of  the 
Flesh  they  eat,  and  burn  them,  as  being  of  Opinion,  that  if  they 
omitted  that  Custom,  the  Game  would  leave  their  Country,  and  they 
should  not  be  able  to  maintain  themselves  by  their  Hunting.  Most 
of  these  Indians  wear  Mustachoes,  or  Whiskers,  which  is  rare;  by 
reason  the  Indians  are  a  People  that  commonly  pull  the  Hair  of  their 
Faces,  and  other  Parts,  up  by  the  Roots,  and  suffer  none  to  grow. 
Here  is  plenty  of  Chesnuts,  which  are  rarely  found  in  Carolina,  and 
never  near  the  Sea,  or  Salt-Water;  tho'  they  are  frequently  in  such 
Places  in  Virginia. 


INDIANS   OF    NOETH   CAEOLINA.  107 

At  the  other  House,  where  our  Fellow  Travellers  lay,  they  had 
provided  a  Dish,  in  great  Fashion  amongst  the  Indians,  which  was 
Two  young  Fawns,  taken  out  of  the  Doe's  Bellies,  and  boil'd  in  the 
same  slimy  Bags  Nature  had  plac'd  them  in,  and  one  of  the  Country- 
Hares,  stew'd  with  the  Guts  in  her  Belly,  and  her  Skin  with  the  Hair 
on.  This  new-fashion' d  Cookery  wrought  Abstinence  in  our  Fellow- 
Travellers,  which  I  somewhat  wonder'd  at,  because  one  of  them  made 
nothing  of  eatmg  Allegaiors,  as  heartily  as  if  it  had  been  Pork  and 
Turneps.  The  Indians  dress  most  things  after  the  Wood-cock 
Fashion,  never  taking  the  Guts  out.  At  the  House  we  lay  at,  there 
was  very  good  Entertainment  of  Venison,  Turkies,  and  Bears;  and 
which  is  customary  amongst  the  Indians,  the  Queen  had  a  Daughter 
by  a  former  Husband,  who  was  the  beautifullest  Indian  I  ever  saw, 
and  had  an  Air  of  Majesty  with  her,  quite  contrary  to  the  general 
Carriage  of  the  Indians.  She  was  very  kind  to  the  English,  during 
our  Abode,  as  well  as  her  Father  and  Mother. 

Thursday. — This  Morning,  most  of  our  Company  havuig  some 
Inchnation  to  go  straight  away  for  Virginia,  when  they  left  this 
Place;  I  and  one  more  took  our  leaves  of  them,  resolving  (with 
God's  Leave)  to  see  North- Carolinxi,  one  of  the  Indians  setting  us  in 
our  way.  The  rest  being  indifferent  which  way  they  went,  desired 
us,  by  all  means,  to  leave  a  Letter  for  them,  at  the  Achonechy-Town. 
The  Indian  that  put  us  in  our  Path,  had  been  a  Prisoner  amongst  the 
Sinnagers;  but  had  out-run  them,  although  they  had  cut  his  Toes, 
and  half  his  Feet  away,  which  is  a  Practice  common  amongst  them. 
They  first  raise  the  Skin,  then  cut  away  half  the  Feet,  and  so  wrap 
the  Skin  over  the  Stumps,  and  make  a  present  Cure  of  the  Wounds. 
This  commonly  disal^les  them  from  making  their  Escape,  they  being 
not  so  good  Travellers  as  before,  and  the  Impression  of  their  Half- 
Feet  maldng  it  easy  to  trace  them.  However,  this  Fellow  was  got 
clear  of  them,  but  had  httle  Heart  to  go  far  from  home,  and  carry'd 
always  a  Case  of  Pistols  in  his  Girdle,  besides  a  Cutlass,  and  a  Fuzee. 
Leaving  the  rest  of  our  Company  at  the  Indian-Town,  we  travell'd,  that 
day,  about  20  Miles,  in  very  cold,  frosty  Weather;  and  pass'd  over 
two  pretty  Rivers,  something  bigger  than  Eeighwaree,  but  not  quite 
so  stony.  We  took  these  two  Rivers  to  make  one  of  the  Northward 
Branches  of  Cape-Fair  River,  but  afterwards  found  our  Mistake. 

Friday. — The  next  day,  we  travell'd  over  very  good  Land,  but 
full  of  Free-Stone,  and  Marble,  which  pinch'd  our  Feet  severely.  We 
took  up  our  Quarters  in  a  sort  of  Savanna-Ground,  that  had  very  iexv 
Trees  in  it.  The  Land  was  good,  and  had  several  Quarries  of  Stone, 
but  not  loose,  as  the  others  us'd  to  be. 

Saturday. — Next  Morning,  we  got  our  Breakfasts  of  Parch'd  Corn, 
having  nothing  but  that  to  subsist  on  for  above  100  Miles.  All  the 
Pine-Trees  were  vanish'd,  for  we  had  seen  none  for  two  days.  We 
pass'd  through  a  dehcate  rich  Soil  this  day;  no  great  Hills,  but  pretty 
Risings,  and  Levels,  which  made  a  beautiful  Country.  We  hkewise 
pass'd  over  three  Rivers  this  day;  the  first  about  the  bigness  of  Rocky 
River,  the  other  not  much  differing  in  Size.  Then  we  made  not  the 
least  Question,  but  we  had  pass'd  over  the  North-West  Branch  of 
Cape- Fair,  travelling  that  day  above  30  IVIiles.  We  were  much  taken 
with  the  Fertihty  and  Pleasantness  of  the  Neck  of  Land  between 
these  two  Branches,  and  no  less  pleas'd,  that  v\^e  had  pass'd  the  River, 
which  us'd  ^o  frighten  Passengers  from  fordmg  it.     At  last,  deter- 


108  IlSTDIAISrS   OF    NORTH   CAEOLINA, 

mining  to  rest  on  the  other  side  of  a  Hill,  which  we  saw  before 
us;  when  we  were  on  the  Top  thereof,  there  appeared  to  us  such 
another  delicious,  rapid  Stream,  as  that  qi  Sapona,  having  large 
Stones,  about  the  bigness  of  an  ordinary  House  lying  up  and  down 
the  River.  As  the  Wind  blew  very  cold  at  N.W.  and  we  were  very 
weary,  and  hungry,  the  Swiftness  of  the  Current  gave  us  some  cause 
to  fear;  but,  at  last,  we  concluded  to  venture  over  that  Night. 
Accordingly,  we  stripp'd,  and  with  great  Difficulty,  (by  God's 
Assistance)  got  safe  to  the  North-side  of  the  famous  Hau-River,  by 
some  called  Rearkin;  the  Indians  differing  in  the  Names  of  Places, 
according  to  their  several  Nations.  It  is  call'd  Hau-'RvvQr,  from  the 
Sissipahau  Indians,  who  dwell  upon  this  Stream,  which  is  one  of  the 
main  Branches  of  Cape- Fair,  there  being  rich  Land  enough  to  contain 
some  Thousands  of  Famihes;  for  which  Reason,  I  hope,  in  a  short 
time,  it  will  be  planted.  This  River  is  much  such  another  as  Sapona; 
both  seeming  to  run  a  vast  way  up  the  Country.  Here  is  plenty  of 
good  Timber,  and  especially,  of  a  Scaly-bark'd  Oak;  And  as  there 
is  Stone  enough  in  both  Rivers,  and  the  Land  is  extraordinary  Rich, 
no  Man  that  wiU  be  content  within  the  Bounds  of  Reason,  can  have 
any  grounds  to  dishke  it.  And  they  that  are  otherwise,  are  the  best 
Neighbours,  when  farthest  off. 

Sunday. — As  soon  as  it  was  day,  we  set  out  for  the  Achonechy- 
Town,  it  being,  by  Estimation,  20  Miles  off,  which,  I  beheve,  is  pretty 
exact.  We  were  got  about  half  way,  (meeting  great  Gangs  of 
Turkies)  when  we  saw,  at  a  Distance,  30  loaded  Horses,  coming  on  the 
Road,  with  four  or  five  Men,  on  other  Jades,  driving  them.  We 
charg'd  our  Piece,  and  went  up  to  them:  Enquiring,  whence  they 
came  from?  They  told  us,  from  Virginia.  The  leading  Man's 
Name  was  Massey,  who  was  born  about  Leeds  in  Yorlcshire.  He 
ask'd,  from  whence  we  came  ?  We  told  him.  Then  he  ask'd  again, 
Whether  we  wanted  any  thing  that  he  had  ?  telUng  us,  we  should  be 
welcome  to  it.  We  accepted  Two  Wheaten  Biskets,  and  a  little 
Ammunition.  He  advised  us,  by  all  means,  to  strike  down  the 
Country  for  Ronoack,  and  not  think  of  Virginia,  because  of  the 
Sinnagers,  of  whom  they  were  afraid,  tho'  so  well  arm'd,  and  numer- 
ous. They  persuaded  us  also,  to  call  upon  one  Enoe  Will,  as  we  went 
to  AdsJiusheer,  for  that  he  would  conduct  us  safe  among  the  English, 
giving  him  the  Character  of  a  very  faithful  Indian,  which  we  after- 
wards found  true  by  Experience.  Tho  Virginia-Men  asking  our 
Opinion  of  the  Country  we  were  then  in  ?  we  told  them,  it  was  a  very 
pleasant  one.  They  were  all  of  the  same  Opinion,  and  affirm'd, 
That  they  had  never  seen  20  Miles  of  such  extraordinary  rich  Land, 
lying  all  together,  hke  that  betwixt  iZait-River  and  the  Achonechy 
Town.  Having  taken  our  Leaves  of  each  other,  we  set  forward;  and 
the  Country,  thro'  which  we  pass'd,  was  so  delightful,  that  it  gave  us 
a  great  deal  of  Satisfaction.  About  Three  a  Clock,  we  reach' d  the 
Town,  and  the  Indians  presently  brought  us  good  fat  Bear,  and  Veni- 
son, which  was  very  acceptable  at  that  time.  Their  Cabins  were 
hung  v/ith  a  good  sort  of  Tapestry,  as  fat  Bear,  and  barbakued  or  dried 
Venison;  no  Indians  having  greater  Plenty  of  Provisions  than  these. 
The  Savages  do,  indeed,  still  possess  the  Flower  of  Carolinxi,  the 
English,  enjoying  only  the  Fag-end  of  that  fine  Country.  We  had  not 
been  in  the  Town  2  Hours,  when  Enoe-  Will  came  into  the  King's  Cabin; 
which  was  our  Quarters.     We  ask'd  him,  if  he  would  conduct  us  to 


INDIANS  OF  NOETH  CAEOLINA.  109 

the  English,  and  what  he  would  have  for  his  Pains;  he  answer'd,  he 
would  go  along  with  us,  and  for  what  he  was  to  have,  he  left  that  to 
our  Discretion. 

Monday. — The  next  Morning,  we  set  out,  with  Enoe-  WiU,  towards 
Adshusheer,  leaving  the  Virginia  Path,  and  striking  more  to  the 
Eastward,  for  Ronoack.  Several  Indians  were  in  our  Company 
belonging  to  WilVs  Nation,  who  are  the  SJioccories,  mixt  with  the 
Enoe-Indians,  and  those  of  the  Nation  of  AdshusJieer.  Enoe-  Will  is 
their  chief  Man,  and  rules  as  far  as  the  Banks  of  Reatkin.  It  was  a 
sad  stony  Way  to  Adsliusheer.  We  went  over  a  small  Eiver  by 
Achonechy,  and  in  this  14  MUes,  through  several  other  Streams, 
which  empty  themselves  into  the  Branches  of  Cape- Fair.  The 
stony  Way  made  me  quite  lame;  so  that  I  was  an  Hour  or  two  behind 
the  rest;  but  honest  Will  would  not  leave  me,  but  bid  "me  welcome 
when  we  came  to  his  House,  feasting  us  with  hot  Bread,  and  Bears- 
Oil;  which  is  wholsome  Food  for  Travellers.  There  runs  a  pretty 
Rivulet  by  this  Town.  Near  the  Plantation,  I  saw  a  prodigious  over- 
grown Pine-Tree,  having  not  seen  any  of  that  Sort  of  Timber  for  above 
125  Miles:  They  brought  us  2  Cocks,  and  pulled  their  larger  Feathers 
off,  never  plucking  the  lesser,  but  singeing  them  off.  I  took  one  of 
these  Fowls  in  my  Hand,  to  make  it  cleaner  than  the  Indian  had, 
pulling  out  his  Guts  and  Liver,  which  I  laid  in  a  Bason;  notwith- 
standing which,  he  kept  such  a  Struggling  for  a  considerable  time, 
that  I  had  much  ado  to  hold  him  in  my  Hands.  The  Indians  laugh'd 
at  me,  and  told  me,  that  Enoe-  Will  had  taken  a  Cock  of  an  Indian 
that  was  not  at  home,  and  the  Fowl  was  designed  for  another  Use. 
I  conjectur'd,  that  he  was  design'd  for  an  Offering  to  their  God,  who, 
they  say,  hurts  them,  (which  is  the  Devil.)  In  this  Struggling,  he 
bled  afresh,  and  there  issued  out  of  his  Body  more  Blood  than  com- 
monly such  Creatures  afford.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  we  cook'd 
him,  and  eat  him;  and  if  ho  was  design'd  for  him,  cheated  the  Devil. 
The  Indians  keep  many  Cocks,  but  seldom  above  one  Hen,  using  very 
often  such  wicked  Sacrifices,  as  I  mistrusted  this  Fowl  was  designed 
for. 

Our  Guide  and  Landlord  Enoe-Will  was  of  the  best  and  most 
agreeable  Temper  that  ever  I  met  with  in  an  Indian,  being  always 
ready  to  serve  the  English,  not  out  of  Gain,  but  real  Affection;  which 
makes  him  apprehensive  of  being  poison'd  by  some  wicked  Indians, 
and  was  therefore  very  earnest  with  me,  to  promise  him  to  revenge 
his  Death,  if  it  should  so  happen.  He  brought  some  of  his  chief 
Men  into  his  Cabin,  and  2  of  them  having  a  Drum,  and  a  Rattle, 
sung  by  us,  as  we  lay  in  Bed,  and  struck  up  their  Musick  to  serenade 
and  welcome  us  to  their  Town.  And  tho'  at  last,  we  fell  asleep, 
yet  they  continu'd  their  Consort  till  Morning.  These  Indians  are 
fortify'd  in,  as  the  former,  and  are  much  addicted  to  a  Sport  they 
call  Chenco,  which  is  carry'd  on  with  a  Staff  and  a  Bowl  made  of 
Stone,  which  they  trundle  upon  a  smooth  Place,  hke  a  Bowling- 
Green,  made  for  that  Purpose,  as  I  have  mention' d  before. 

Tuesday. — Next  Morning,  we  set  out,  with  our  Guide,  and  several 
other  Indians,  who  intended  to  go  to  the  English,  and  buy  Rum. 
We  design'd  for  'a  Nation  about  40  Miles  from  Adshusheer,  call'd 
the  Lower  Quarter:  The  first  Night,  we  lay  in  a  rich  Perlcoson,  or 
low  Ground,  that  was  hard-by  a  Creek,  and  good  dry  Land. 


110  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Wednesday. — The  next  day,  we  went  over  several  Tracts  of  rich 
Land,  but  mix'd  with  Pm6s  and  other  indifferent  Soil.  In  our  way, 
there  stood  a  great  Stone  about  the  Size  of  a  large  Oven,  and  hollow; 
this  the  Indians  took  great  Notice  of,  putting  some  Tobacco  into 
the  Concavity,  and  spitting  after  it.  I  ask'd  them  the  Rea,son  of 
their  so  doing,  but  they  made  me  no  Answer.  In  the  Evening,  we 
pass'd  over  a  pleasant  Rivulet,  with  a  fine  gravelly  Bottom,  having 
come  over  such  another  that  Morning.  On  the  other  side  of  this 
River,  we  found  the  Indian  Town,  which  was  a  Parcel  of  nasty 
smoaky  Holes,  much  Hke  the  Waterrees;  their  Town  having  a  great 
Swamp  running  directly  through  the  Middle  thereof.  The  Land 
here  begins  to  abate  of  its  Height,  and  has  some  few  Swamps.  Most 
of  these  Indiana  have  but  one  Eye;  but  what  Mischance  or  Quarrel 
has  bereav'd  them  of  the  other  I  could  not  learn.  They  were  not 
so  free  to  us,  as  most  of  the  other  Indians  had  been;  Victuals  being 
somewhat  scarce  among  them.  However,  we  got  enough  to  satisfy 
our  Appetites.  I  saw,  among  these  Men,  very  long  Arrows,  headed 
with  Pieces  of  Glass,  which  they  had  broken  from  Bottles.  They 
had  shap'd  them  neatly,  hke  the  Head  of  a  Dart;  but  which  way 
they  did  it,  I  can't  teU.  We  had  not  been  at  this  Town  above  an 
Hour,  when  two  of  our  Company,  that  had  bought  a  Mare  of  John 
Stewart,  came  up  to  us,  having  receiv'd  a  Letter  by  one  of  WiWs 
Indians,  who  was  very  cautious,  and  asked  a  great  many  Questions, 
to  certifie  him  of  the  Person,  e'er  he  would  dehver  the  Letter.  They 
had  left  the  Trader,  and  one  that  came  from  South- Carolina  with  us, 
to  go  to  Virginia;  these  Two  being  resolved  to  go  to  Carolina  with  us. 

Thursday. — This  Day  fell  much  Rain,  so  we  staid  at  the  Indian 
Town. 

Friday. — This  Morning,  we  set  out  early,  being  four  English- 
Men,  besides  several  Indians.  We  went  10  Miles,  and  were  then 
stopp'd  by  the  Freshes  of  Enoe-^wev,  which  had  rais'd  it  so  high, 
that  we  could  not  pass  over,  till  it  was  fallen.  I  enquir'd  of  my 
Guide,  Where  this  River  disgorg'd  it  self?  He  said.  It  was  Enoe- 
River,  and  run  into  a  Place  caU'd  E'noe-Bay,  near  his  Country, 
which  he  left  when  he  was  a  Boy;  by  which  I  perceiv'd,  he  was  one 
of  the  Cores  by  Birth:  This  being  a  Branch  of  iVews-River. 

Saturday. — This  Day,  our  Fellow-TraveUer's  Mare  ran  away  from 
him;  wherefore,  WiU  went  back  as  far  as  the  lower  Quarter,  and 
brought  her  back. 

Sunday. — The  next  Day,  early,  came  two  TusTceruro  Indians  to 
the  other  side  of  the  River,  but  could  not  get  over.  They  talk'd 
much  to  us,  but  we  understood  them  not.  In  the  Afternoon,  WiU 
came  with  the  Mare,  and  had  some  Discourse  with  them;  they  told 
him,  The  English,  to  whom  he  was  going,  were  very  wicked  People; 
and.  That  they  threatned  the  Indians  for  Hunting  near  their  Plan- 
tations. These  Two  Fellows  were  going  among  the  Schoccores  and 
Achonechy  Indians,  to  seU  their  Wooden  Bowls  and  Ladles  for  Raw- 
Skins,  which  they  make  great  Advantage  of,  hating  that  any  of 
these  Westward  Indians  should  have  any  Commerce  with  the  Erig- 
lish,  which  would  prove  a  Hinderance  to  then*  Gains.  Their  Stories 
deteiT'd  an  Old  Indian  and  his  Son,  from  going  any  farther;  but 
WiU  told  us,  Nothing  they  had  said  should  frighten  him,  he  beUev- 
ing  them  to  be  a  couple  of  Hog-stealers ;  and  that  the  English  only 
sought  Restitution  of  their  Losses,  by  them;  and  that  this  was  the 


INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAEOLINA.  Ill 

only  ground  for  their  Report.  WiU  had  a  Slave,  a  Sissipdhau- Indian 
by  Nation,  who  killed  us  several  Turkies,  and  other  Game,  on  which 
we  feasted. 

Monday. — This  River  is  near  as  large  as  Reatkin;  the  South-side 
having  curious  Tracts  of  good  Land,  the  Banks  high,  and  Stone- 
Quarries.  The  TusJceruros  being  come  to  us,  we  ventured  over  the 
River,  which  we  found  to  be  a  strong  Current,  and  the  Water  about 
Breast-high.  However,  we  all  got  safe  to  the  North-Shore,  which 
is  but  poor,  white,  sandy  Land,  and  bears  no  Timber,  but  small 
shrubby  OalvS.  We  went  about  10  Miles,  and  sat  down  at  the  Falls 
of  a  large  Creek,  where  lay  mighty  Rocks,  the  Water  making  a 
strange  Noise,  as  if  a  great  many  Water-Mills  were  going  at  once. 
I  take  this  to  be  the  Falls  of  Neus-Creek,  called  by  the  Indians, 
Wee  quo  Whom.  We  lay  here  aU  Night.  My  Guide  WiU  deshing 
to  see  the  Book  that  I  had  about  me,  I  lent  it  him;  and  as  he  soon 
found  the  Picture  of  King  David,  he  asked  me  several  Questions 
concerning  the  Book,  and  Picture,  which  I  resolv'd  him,  and  invited 
him  to  become  a  Christian.  He  made  me  a  very  sharp  Reply, 
assuring  me.  That  he  lov'd  the  English  extraordinary  well,  and  did 
beUeve  their  Ways  to  be  very  good  for  those  that  had  already practis'd 
them,  and  had  been  brought  up  therein;  But  as  for  himself,  he  was 
too  much  in  Years  to  think  of  a  Change,  esteeming  it  not  proper  for 
Old  People  to  admit  of  such  an  alteration.  However,  he  told  me. 
If  I  would  take  his  Son  Jaclc,  who  was  then  about  14  Years  of  Age, 
and  teach  him  to  talk  in  that  Book,  and  make  Paper  speak,  which 
they  caU  our  Way  of  Writing,  he  would  wholly  resign  him  to  my 
Tuition;  telling  me,  he  was  of  Opinion,  I  was  very  well  affected  to 
the  Indians. 

Tuesday. — The  next  Morning,  we  set  out  early,  and  I  perceiv'd 
that  these  Indians  were  in  some  fear  of  Enemies;  for  they  had  an 
Old  Man  with  them,  who  was  very  cunning  and  circumspect,  where- 
soever he  saw  any  Marks  of  Footing,  or  of  any  Fire  that  had  been 
made;  going  out  of  his  Way,  very  often,  to  look  for  these  Marks. 
We  went,  this  day,  above  30  Miles,  over  a  very  level  Country,  and 
most  Pine  Land,  yet  intermix'd  with  some  Quantities  of  Marble;  a 
good  Range  for  Cattel,  though  very  indifferent  for  Swine.  We  had 
now  lost  our  rapid  Streams,  and  were  come  to  slow,  dead  Waters,  of 
a  brown  Colour,  proceeding  from  the  Swamps,  much  hke  the  Sluices 
in  Holland,  where  the  Track-^S^cooi^s  go  along.  In  the  Afternoon, 
we  met  two  Tuslieruros,  who  told  us.  That  there  was  a  Company  of 
Hunters  not  far  of,  and  if  we  walk'd  stoutly,  we  might  reach  them 
that  Night.  But  Will  and  He  that  own'd  the  Mare,  being  gone 
before,  and  the  Old  Indian  tired,  we  rested,  that  Night,  in  the  Woods, 
making  a  good  hght  Fire,  Wood  being  very  plentiful  in  these  parts. 

Wednesday. — Next  Day,  about  10  a  Clock,  we  struck  out  of  the 
Way,  by  the  Advice  of  om-  Old  Indian.  We  had  not  gone  past  two 
Miles,  e'er  we  met  with  about  500  TusTceruros  in  one  Hunting-Quarter. 
They  had  made  themselves  Streets  of  Houses,  built  with  Pine-Bark, 
not  with  round  Tops,  as  they  commonly  use,  but  Ridge-Fashion, 
after  the  manner  of  most  other  Indians.  We  got  nothing  amongst 
them  but  Corn,  Flesh  being  not  plentiful,  by  reason  of  the  great 
Number  of  their  People.  For  tho'  they  are  expert  Hunters,  yet 
they  are  too  ^populous  for  one  Range;  which  makes  Venison  very 
scarce  to  what  it  is  amongst  other  Indians,  that  are  fewer;  no  Savages 

I 


112  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

living  so  well  for  Plenty,  as  those  near  the  Sea.  I  saw,  amongst 
these,  a  Humpback'd  Indian,  which  was  the  only  crooked  one  I 
ever  met  withal.  About  two  a  Clock,  we  reach'd  one  of  their  Towns, 
in  which  there  was  no  body  left,  but  an  Old  Woman  or  two;  the  rest 
being  gone  to  their  Hunting  Quarters.  We  could  find  no  Provision 
at  that  Place.  We  had  a  Tuskeruro  that  came  in  company  with  us, 
from  the  lower  Quarter,  who  took  us  to  his  Cabin,  and  gave  us  what 
it  afforded,  which  was  Corn-meat. 

Thursday. — This  Day,  we  pass'd  through  several  Swamps,  and 
going  not  above  a  dozen  Miles,  came  to  a  Cabin,  the  Master  whereof 
us'd  to  trade  amongst  the  English.  He  told  us.  If  we  would  stay 
Two  Nights,  he  would  conduct  us  safe  to  them,  himseK  designing, 
at  that  time,  to  go  and  fetch  some  Rum;  so  we  resolved  to  tarry 
for  his  Company.  During  our  Stay,  there  happen'd  to  be  a  Young 
Woman  troubled  with  Fits.  The  Doctor  who  was  sent  for  to  assist 
her,  laid  her  on  her  Belly,  and  made  a  small  Incision  with  Rattle- 
Snake-Tceth;  then  laying  his  Mouth  to  the  Place,  he  suck'd  out 
near  a  Quart  of  black  conglutinated  Blood,  and  Serum.  Our  Land- 
lord gave  us  the  Tail  of  a  Bever,  v/hich  was  a  choice  Food. 

Friday. — There  happen'd  also  to  be  a  Burial  of  one  of  their  Dead, 
which  Ceremony  is  much  the  same  with  that  of  the  Santees,  who 
make  a  great  Feast  at  the  Interment  of  their  Corps.  The  small 
Runs  of  Water  hereabout,  afford  great  Plenty  of  Craw-Fish,  fuU  as 
large  as  those  in  England,  and  nothing  inferior  in  Goodness. 

Saturday  Morning,  our  Patron,  with  Enoe  Will,  and  his  Servant, 
set  out  with  us,  for  the  English.  In  the  Afternoon,  we  ferried  over 
a  River,  (in  a  Canoe)  called  by  the  Indians,  Ohattookau,  which  is  the 
N.  W.  Branch  of  iVeus-River.  We  lay  in  the  Swamp,  where  some 
Indians  invited  us  to  go  to  their  Quarters,  which  some  of  our  Com- 
pany accepted,  but  got  nothing  extraordinary,  except  a  dozen  Miles 
March  out  of  their  Way:  The  Country  here  is  very  thick  of  Indian 
Towns  and  Plantations. 

Sunday. — We  were  forced  to  march,  this  day,  for  Want  of  Pro- 
visions. About  10  a  Clock,  we  met  an  Indian  that  had  got  a  parcel 
of  Shad-Fish  ready  barbaku'd.  We  bought  24  of  them,  for  a  dress'd 
Doe-Skin,  and  so  went  on,  through  many  Swamps,  finding,  this  day, 
the  long  ragged  Moss  on  the  Trees,  which  we  had  not  seen  for  above 
600  Miles.  In  the  Afternoon,  we  came  upon  the  Banks  of  Pampti- 
cough,  about  20  Miles  above  the  English  Plantations  by  Water, 
though  not  so  far  by  Land.  The  Indian  found  a  Canoe,  which  he 
had  hidden,  in  which  we  all  got  over,  and  went  about  six  Miles 
farther.  We  lay,  that  Night,  under  two  or  three  Pieces  of  Bark, 
at  the  Foot  of  a  large  Oak.  There  fell  abundance  of  Snow  and 
Rain  in  the  Night,  with  much  Thunder  and  Jjightning, 

Monday. — Next  Day,  it  clear'd  up,  and  it  being  about  12  Miles 
to  the  English,  about  half-way  we  passed  over  a  deep  Creek,  and 
came  safe  to  Mr.  Richard  Smith's,  of  Pampticough-'RiveT,  in  North- 
Carolina;  where  being  well  received  b}^  the  Inhabitants,  and  pleas'd 
with  the  Goodness  of  the  Country,  we  all  resolv'd  to  continue. 

Fims. 


INDIANS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA.  113 

A  Description  of  North-Carolina. 

CAROLINA    HOW    BOUNDED. 

The  Province  of  Carolina  is  separated  irom  Virginia  by  a  due 
West-Line,  which  begins  at  CwTituck-lnlet,  in  36  Degrees,  30  Min- 
utes, of  Northern-Latitude,  and  extends  indefinite!}^  to  the  West- 
ward, and  thence  to  the  Southward,  as  far  as  29  Degrees;  which  is 
a  vast  Tract  of  Sea-Coast.  But  having  already  treated,  as  far  as  is 
necessary,  concerning  Sowih- Carolina,  I  shall  confine  myself,  in  the 
ensuing  Sheets,  to  give  my  Reader  a  Description  of  that  Part  of  the 
Country  only,  which  lies  betwixt  Currituck  and  Cape- Fair,  and  is 
almost  34  Deg.  North.     And  this  is  commonly  call'd  Norih  Carolina. 

This  Part  of  Carolina,  is  faced  with  a  Chain  of  Sand-Banks,  which 
defends  it  from  the  Violence  and  Insults  of  the  Atlantick  Ocean;  by 
which  Barrier,  a  vast  Sound  is  hemm'd  in,  which  fronts  the  Mouths 
of  the  Navigable  and  Pleasant  Rivers  of  this  Fertile  Country,  and 
into  which  they  disgorge  themselves. 

INLETS. 

Thro'  the  same  are  Inlets  of  several  Depths  of  Water.  Some  of 
their  Channels  admit  only  of  Sloops,  Brigantines,  small  Barks,  and 
Ketches;  and  such  are  Currituck,  Ronoak,  and  up  the  Sound  above 
Eatteras:  Whilst  others  can  receive  Ships  of  Burden,  as  Ocacock:,  Top- 
sail-Inlet, and  Cape-Fair;  as  appears  by  my  Chart. 

FIRST    COLONY   OF    CAROLINA. 

The  first  Discovery  and  Settlement  of  this  Country  was  by  the 
Procurement  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  in  Conjunction  with  some  pubUck- 
spirited  Gentlemen  of  that  Age,  under  the  Protection  of  Queen 
Elizabetli;  for  which  Reason  it  was  then  named  Virginia,  being 
begun  on  that  Part  called  i?o?70fl^-Island,  where  the  Ruins  of  a  Fort 
are  to  be  seen  at  this  day,  as  well  as  some  old  English  Coins  which 
have  been  lately  found;  and  a  Brass-Gun,  a  Powder-Horn,  and  one 
small  Quarter  deck-Gun,  made  of  Iron  Staves,  and  hoop'd  with  the 
same  Metal;  which  Method  of  making  Guns  might  very  probably 
be  made  use  of  in  those  Days,  for  the  Convenience  of  Infant-Colonies. 

HATTER  AS    INDIANS. 

A  farther  Confirmation  of  this  we  have  from  the  Eatteras  Indians, 
who  either  then  hved  on  i?onoafc-Island,  or  much  frequented  it. 
These  tell  us,  that  several  of  their  Ancestors  were  white  People, 
and  could  talk  in  a  Book,  as  we  do;  the  Truth  of  which  is  confirm'd 
by  gray  Eyes  being  found  frequently  amongst  these  Indians,  and 
no  others.  They  value  themselves  extremely  for  their  Affinitj^  to 
the  English,  and  are  ready  to  do  them  all  friendl}^  Offices.  It  is 
probable,  that  this  Settlement  miscarry' d  for  want  of  timely  Supplies 
from  England;  or  thro'  the  Treachery  of  the  Natives,  for  we  may 
reasonably  suppose  that  the  English  were  forced  to  cohabit  with 
them,  for  Relief  and  Conversation;  and  that  in  process  of  Time, 

75321°— S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 8 


114  INDIANS  OF  NORTH  CAEOLINA. 

they  conform'd  tliemselves  to  the  Manners  of  their  Indian  Kelations, 
And  thus  we  see,  how  apt  Humane  Nature  is  to  degenerate. 

SIR    WALTER    RALEIGH's    SHIP. 

I  cannot  forbear  inserting  here,  a  pleasant  Story  that  passes  for 
an  uncontested  Truth  amongst  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Place;  which 
is,  that  the  Ship  which  brought  the  first  Colonies,  does  often  appear 
amongst  them,  under  Sail,  in  a  gallant  Posture,  which  they  call  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh's  Ship;  And  the  truth  of  this  has  been  afhrm'd  to  me, 
by  Men  of  the  best  Credit  in  the  Country. 

SECOND  SETTLEMENT  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA PLEASANTNESS  OF 

CAROLINA. 

A  second  Settlement  of  this  Country  was  made  about  fifty  Years 
ago,  in  that  part  we  now  call  Alhernarl-Countj,  and  chiefly  in  Chuwon 
Precinct,  by  several  substantial  Planters,  from  Virginia,  and  other 
Plantations;  Who  finding  mild  Winters,  and  a  fertile  Soil,  beyond 
Expectation,  producing  every  thing  that  was  planted,  to  a  jjrodi- 
gious  Increase;  their  Cattle,  iforses,  Sheep,  and  Swine,  breeding  very 
fast,  and  passing  the  Winter,  without  any  Assistance  from  the 
Planter;  so  that  every  thing  seem'd  to  come  by  Nature,  the  Husband- 
man living  almost  void  of  Care,  and  free  from  those  Fatigues  which 
are  absolutely  rejuisite  in  Winter-Countries,  for  providing  Fodder 
and  other  Necessaries;  these  Encouragements  induc'd  them  to  stand 
their  Ground,  altho'  but  a  handful  of  People,  seated  at  great  Distances 
one  from  another,  and  amidst  a  vast  number  of  Indians  of  different 
Nations,  who  were  then  in  Carolina.  Nevertheless,  I  say,  the  Fame 
of  this  new-discover'd  Summer-Country  spread  thro'  the  neighbouring 
Colonies,  and,  in  a  few  Years,  drew  a  considerable  Number  of  Families 
thereto,  who  all  found  Land  enough  to  settle  themselves  in,  (had  they 
been  many  Thousands  more)  and  that  which  was  very  good  and  com- 
modiously  seated,  both  for  Profit  and  Pleasure.  And  indeed,  most 
of  the  Plantations  in  Carolina  naturally  enjoy  a  noble  Prospect  of 
large  and  spacious  Rivers,  pleasant  Savanna's,  and  fine  Meadows, 
with  their  green  Liveries,  interwoven  with  beautiful  Flowers,  of  most 
glorious  Colours,  which  the  several  Seasons  afford;  hedg'd  in  with 
pleasant  Groves  of  the  ever-famous  Tulip -tree,  the  stately  Laurel, 
and  Bays,  e^|ualizing  the  Oak  in  Bigness  and  Growth;  Myrtles,  Jessa- 
mines, Wood-bines,  i loneysuckles,  and  several  other  fragrant  Vines 
and  Ever-greens,  whose  aspiiing  Branches  shadow  and  interweave 
themselves  mth  the  loftiest  Timbers,  yielding  a  pleasant  Prospect, 
Shade  and  Smell,  proper  Habitations  for  the  Sweet-singing  Birds,  that 
melodiously  entertain  such  as  travel  thro'  the  Woods  of  Carolina. 

The  Planters  ]  ossessing  all  these  Blessings,  and  the  Produce  of  great 
Quantities  of  Wheat  and  Indian  Corn,  in  which  this  Country  is  very 
fruitful,  as  Hkewise  in  Beef,  Pork,  Tallow,  Hides,  Deer-Sldns,  and 
Furs;  for  these  Commodities  the  New- England-Men.  and  Bermudianp 
visited  Carolina  in  their  Barks  and  Sloops,  and  carry' d  out  what  they 
made,  bringing  them,  in  Exchange,  Rum,  Sugar,  Salt,  Molosses,  and 
some  wearing  Apparel,  tho'  the  last  at  very  extravagant  Prices. 

As  the  Land  is  very  fruitful,  so  are  the  Planters  kind  and  hospitable 
to  aU  that  come  to  visit  themj  there  being  very  few  Housekeepers, 


INDIAN'S   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  115 

i  but  what  live  very  nobly,  and  give  away  more  Provisions  to  Coasters 
and  Guests  who  come  to  see  them  than  they  expend  amongst  their 
own  families. 


An  Account  of  the  Indians  of  North-Carolina. 

The  Indians,  which  were  the  Inhabitants  of  America,  when  the 
Spaniards  and  other  Europeans  discover' d  the  several  Parts  of  that 
Country,  are  the  People  which  we  reckon  the  Natives  thereof;  as 
indeed  they  were,  when  we  first  found  out  those  Parts,  and  appear'd 
therein.  Yet  this  has  not  wrought  in  me  a  full  Satisfaction,  to  allow 
these  People  to  have  been  the  Ancient  Dwellers  of  the  New- World,  or 
Tract  of  Land  we  call  America.  The  Reasons  that  I  have  to  think 
otherwise,  are  too  many  to  set  down  here;  but  I  shall  give  the 
Reader  a  few,  before  I  proceed;  and  some  others  he  will  find  scatter'd 
in  my  Writings  elsewhere. 

WOOD  UNDER  GROUND — SHELLS  SOME  FATHOMS  IN  THE  EARTH,  THE 
SEA  PROBABLY  HAS  THROWN  UP  IN  PART  OF  THIS  COUNTRY — MEX- 
ICO   BUILDINGS. 

In  Carolin/i  (the  Part  I  now  treat  of)  are  the  fairest  jNIarks  of  a 
Deluge,  (that  at  some  time  has  probably  made  strange  Alterations, 
;  as  to  the  Station  that  Country  was  then  in)  that  ever  I  saw,  or,  I 
think,  read  of,  in  any  History.  Amongst  the  other  Subterraneous 
Matters,  that  have  been  discover' d,  we  found,  in  digging  of  a  Well  that 
was  twenty  six  foot  deep,  at  the  Bottom  thereof,  many  large  Pieces  of 
the  Tuhp-Tree,  and  several  other  sorts  of  Wood,  some  of  which  were 
cut  and  notch'd,  and  some  squared,  as  the  Joices  of  a  House  are, 
which  appear'd  (in  the  Judgment  of  all  that  saw  them)  to  be  wrought 
with  Iron  Instruments;  it  seeming  impossible  for  any  thing  made  of 
Stone,  or  what  they  were  found  to  make  use  of,  to  cut  Wood  in  that 
manner.  It  cannot  be  argu'd,  that  the  Wood  so  cut,  might  float  from 
some  other  Continent;  because  Iliccory  and  the  Tulip-Tree  are  spon- 
taneous in  America,  and  in  no  other  Places,  that  I  could  ever  learn. 
It  is  to  be  acknowledg'd,  that  the  Spaniards  give  us  Relations  of 
magnificent  Buildings,  which  were  raised  by  the  Indians  of  Mexico 
and  other  Parts,  which  they  discover'd,  and  conquer'd;  amongst 
whom  no  Iron  Instruments  were  found:  But  'tis  a  great  T^lisfortune, 
that  no  Person  in  that  Expedition  was  so  curious,  as  to  take  an  exact 
Draught  of  the  Fabricks  of  those  People,  which  would  have  been  a 
Discovery  of  great  Value,  and  very  acceptable  to  the  Ingenious;  for, 
as  to  the  Politeness  of  Stones,  it  may  be  effected  by  Collision,  and 
Grinding,  which  is  of  a  contrary  Nature,  on  several  Accounts,  and 
disproves  not  my  Arguments,  in  the  least. 

EARTHEN    POTS    UNDER    GROUND. 

The  next  is,  the  Earthen  Pots  that  are  often  found  under  Ground, 
and  at  the  Foot  of  the  Banks  where  the  Water  has  wash'd  them  away. 
They  are  for  the  most  part  broken  in  pieces;  but  we  find  them  of  a 
different  sort,  in  Comparison  of  those  the  Indians  use  at  this  day, 


116  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

who  have  had  no  other,  ever  since  the  English  discover' d  America. 
The  Bowels  of  the  Earth  cannot  have  alter' d  them,  since  they  are 
thicker,  of  another  Shape,  and  Composition,  and  nearly  approach  to 
the  Urns  of  the  Ancient  Romans. 

INDIAN    PEACHES THE    STONE WATERMELON    AND    GOURDS    THE 

INDIANS    HAVE    ALWAYS    HAD. 

Again,  the  Peaches,  which  are  the  only  tame  Fruit,  or  what  is 
Foreign,  that  these  People  enjoy,  which  is  an  Eastern  Product,  and 
will  keep  and  retain  its  vegetative  and  growing  Faculty,  the  longest 
of  any  thing  of  that  Nature,  that  I  know  of.  The  Stone,  as  I  else- 
where have  remark' d,  is  thicker  than  any  other  sort  of  the  Peaches  in 
Europe,  or  of  the  European  sort,  now  growing  in  America,  and  is 
observed  to  grow  if  planted,  after  it  has  been  for  several  years  laid 
by;  and  it  seems  very  probable,  that  these  People  might  come  from 
some  Eastern  Country;  for  when  you  ask  them  whence  their  Fore- 
Fathers  came,  that  first  inhabited  the  Countr}^,  they  will  point  to  the 
Westward  and  say,  WJiej'e  the  Sun  sleeps,  our  Forefathers  came  thence, 
which,  at  this  distance,  may  be  reckon'd  amongst  the  Eastern  Parts 
of  the  World.  And  to  this  day,  they  are  a  shifting,  wandring  People; 
for  I  know  some  Indian  Nations,  that  have  chang'd  their  Settlements, 
many  hundred  Miles;  sometimes  no  less  than  a  thousand,  as  is  prov'd 
by  the  Savanna  Indians,  who  formerly  lived  on  tlie  Banks  of  the 
Messiasippi,  and  remov'd  thence  to  the  Head  of  one  of  the  Rivers  of 
South-Carolina;  since  which,  (for  some  dislike)  most  of  them  are 
remov'd  to  Mve  in  the  Quarters  of  the  Iroquois  or  Sinnagars,  which  are 
on  the  Heads  of  the  Rivers  that  disgorge  themselves  into  the  Bay  of 
■  ChesapeaTc.  I  once  met  with  a  young  Indian  Woman,  that  had  been 
brought  from  beyond  the  Mountains,  and  was  sold  a  Slave  into  Vir- 
ginia. She  spoke  the  same  language,  as  the  Coranine  Indians,  that 
dwell  near  Cap e-LooA:-ou^,  allowing  for  some  few  words,  which  were 
different,  yet  no  otherwise,  than  that  they  might  understand  one 
another  very  well. 

INDIAN    WELL    SHAP'd    PEOPLE. 

The  Indians  of  '^ovth.- Carolina  are  a  well-shap'd  clean-made  People, 
of  different  Statures,  as  the  Europeans  are,  yet  chiefly  inclin'd  to  be 
tall.  They  are  a  very  streight  People,  and  never  bend  forwards,  or 
stoop  in  the  Shoulders,  unless  much  overpower' d  by  old  Age.  Their 
Limbs  are  exceeding  well-shap'd.  As  for  their  Legs  and  Feet,  they 
are  generally  the  handsomest  in  the  World.  Their  Bodies  are  a  little 
flat,  which  is  occasioned,  by  being  laced  hard  down  to  a  Board,  in  their 
Infancy.  This  is  all  the  Cradle  they  have,  which  I  shall  describe  at 
large  elsewhere.  Their  Eyes  are  black,  or  of  a  dark  Hazle;  the 
Wliite  is  marbled  with  red  Streaks,  which  is  ever  common  to  these 
People,  unless  when  sprung  from  a  white  Father  or  Mother.  Tlieir 
Colour  is  of  a  tawny,  which  would  not  be  so  dark,  did  they  not  dawb 
themselves  vnth.  Bears  Oil,  and  a  Colour  like  burnt  Cork.  Tliis  is 
begun  in  their  Infancy,  and  continued  for  a  long  time,  which  fills  the 
Pores,  and  enables  them  better  to  endure  the  Extremity  of  the 
Weather.  They  are  never  bald  on  their  Heads,  although  never  so 
old,  which,  I  beheve,  proceeds  from  their  Heads  being  always  uncov- 


INDIAIiTS   OP    NOETH    CAEOLHSTA.  117 

er'd,  and  the  greasing  their  Hair  (so  often  as  they  do)  with  Bears  Fat, 
which  is  a  great  Nourisher  of  the  Hair,  and  causes  it  to  grow  very  fast. 
Among-st  the  Bears  Oil  (when  they  intend  to  be  fine)  they  mix  a  cer- 
tain Red  Powder,  that  comes  from  a  Scarlet  Root  which  they  get  in 
the  hilly  Country,  near  the  Foot  of  the  great  Ridge  of  Mountains, 
and  it  is  no  where  else  to  be  found.  They  have  this  Scarlet  Root  in 
great  Esteem,  and  sell  it  for  a  very  great  Price,  one  to  another.  The 
Reason  of  its  Value,  is  because  they  not  only  go  a  long  way  for  it,  but 
are  in  great  Danger  of  the  Sinnagars  or  Iroquais,  who  are  mortal 
Enemies  to  all  our  Indians,  and  very  often  take  them  Captives,  or 
kill  them,  before  they  return  from  this  Voyage.  The  Tuslceruros  and 
other  Indians  have  often  brought  this  Seed  with  them  from  the 
Mountains;  but  it  would  never  grow  in  our  Land.  With  this  and 
Bears  Grease  they  anoint  their  Heads  and  Temples,  which  is  esteem' d 
as  ornamental,  as  sweet  Powder  to  our  Hair.  Besides  this  Root  has 
the  Virtue  of  killing  Lice,  and  suffers  none  to  abide  or  breed  in  their 
Heads.  For  want  of  this  Root,  they  sometimes  use  Pecoon-Root, 
which  is  of  a  Crimson  Colour,  but  it  is  apt  to  die  the  Hair  of  an 
ugly  Hue. 

NO   DWAEF INDIAN   TOBACCO. 

Their  Eyes  are  commonly  full  and  manly,  and  their  Gate  sedate 
and  majestick.  The}"  never  walk  backward  and  forward  as  we  do, 
nor  contemplate  on  the  Affairs  of  Loss  and  Gain;  the  things  which 
daily  perplex  us.  They  are  dexterous  and  steady  both  as  to  their 
Hands  and  Feet,  to  Admiration.  They  will  walk  over  deep  Brooks, 
and  Ci'eeks,  on  the  smallest  Poles,  and  that  \Yithout  any  Fear  or 
Concern.  Nay,  an  Indian  will  walk  on  the  Ridge  of  a  Barn  or  House 
and  look  do^vn  the  Gable-end,  and  spit  upon  the  Ground,  as  uncon- 
cern'd,  as  if  he  was  walking  on  Terra  jirma.  In  Running,  Leaping, 
or  any  such  other  Exercise,  their  Legs  seldom  miscarry,  and  give  them 
a  Fall;  and  as  for  letting  any  thing  fall  out  of  their  Hands,  I  never 
yet  knew  one  Example.  They  are  no  Inventors  of  any  Arts  or  Trades 
worthy  mention;  the  Reason  of  which  I  take  to  be,  that  they  are  not 
possess' d  with  that  Care  and  Thoughtfulness,  how  to  provide  for  the 
Necessaries  of  Life,  as  the  Europeans  are;  yet  they  ^viU  learn  any 
thing  very  soon.  I  have  kno^vn  an  Indian  stock  Guns  better  than 
most  of  our  Joiners,  although  he  never  saw  one  stock'd  before;  and 
besides,  his  Working-Tool  was  only  a  sorry  Knife.  I  have  also 
known  several  of  them  that  were  Slaves  to  the  English,  learn  Handi- 
craft-Trades very  well  and  speedily.  I  never  saw  a  Dwarf  amongst 
them,  nor  but  one  that  was  Hump-back' d.  Their  Teeth  are  yellow 
with  Smoaking  Tobacco,  which  both  Men  and  Women  are  much 
addicted  to.  They  tell  us,  that  they  had  Tobacco  amongst  them, 
before  the  Europeans  made  any  Discovery  of  that  Continent.  It 
differs  in  the  leaf  from  the  sweet-scented,  and  Oroonolco,  which  are 
the  Plants  we  raise  and  cultivate  in  Arnenca.  Theirs  differs  hke- 
wise  much  in  the  SmeU,  when  green,  from  our  Tobacco,  before  cured. 
They  do  not  use  the  same  way  to  cure  it  as  we  do ;  and  therefore,  the 
Difference  must  be  very  considerable  in  Taste;  for  all  Men  (that 
know  Tobacco)  must  allow,  that  it  is  the  Ordering  thereof  which  gives 
a  Hogoo  to  that  Weed,  rather  than  any  Natural  Rehsh  it  possesses. 


118  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAEOLINA. 

when  green.     Although  they  are  great  Smokers,  yet  they  never  are 
seen  to  take  it  in  Snuff,  or  chew  it. 

They  have  no  Hairs  on  their  Faces  (except  some  few)  and  those 
but  httle,  nor  is  there  often  found  any  Hair  under  their  Arm-Pits. 
They  are  continually  plucking  it  away  from  their  Faces,  by  the  Roots. 
As  for  their  Privities,  since  they  wore  Tail-Clouts,  to  cover  their 
Nakedness,  several  of  the  Men  have  a  deal  of  Hair  thereon.  It  is  to 
be  observ'd,  that  the  Head  of  the  Penis  is  cover'd  (throughout  all  the 
Nations  of  the  Indians  I  ever  saw)  both  in  Old  and  Young.  Although 
we  reckon  these  a  very  smooth  People,  and  free  from  Hair;  yet  I  once 
saw  a  middle-aged  Man,  that  was  hairy  all  down  his  Back;  the  Hairs 
being  above  an  Inch  long. 

FEW    CRIPPLES INDIANS    GOOD    EYES. 

As  there  are  found  very  few,  or  scarce  any.  Deformed,  or  Cripples, 
amongst  them,  so  neither  did  I  ever  see  but  one  blind  Man;  and  then 
they  would  give  me  no  Account  how  his  Blindness  came.  They  had 
a  Use  for  him,  which  was,  to  lead  him  with  a  Girl,  Woman,  or  Boy, 
by  a  String;  so  they  put  what  Burdens  they  pleased  upon  his  Back, 
and  made  him  very  serviceable  upon  aU  such  Occasions.  No  People 
have  better  Eyes,  or  see  better  in  the  Night  or  Day,  than  the  Indians. 
Some  alledge,  that  the  Smoke  of  the  Pitch-Pine,  which  they  chiefly 
burn,  does  both  preserve  and  strengthen  the  Eyes;  as,  perhaps,  it 
may  do,  because  that  Smoak  never  offends  the  Eyes,  though  you 
hold  your  Face  over  a  great  Fire  thereof.  This  is  occasioned  by  the 
volatile  Part  of  the  Turpentine,  which  rises  with  the  Smoke,  and  is 
of  a  friendly  balsamick  Nature ;  for  the  Ashes  of  the  Pine-Tree  afford 
no  fix'd  Salt  in  them. 

NOT    PAIR   THEIR    NAILS. 

They  let  their  Nails  grow  very  long,  which,  they  reckon,  is  the 
Use  Nails  are  design' d  for,  and  laugh  at  the  Europeans  for  pairing 
theirs,  which  they  say  disarms  them  of  that  which  nature  designed 
them  for. 

And  since  I  hinted  at  a  Regulation  of  the  Savages,  and  to  propose 
a  way  to  convert  them  to  Christianity,  I  wiU  first  particularize  the 
several  Nations  of  Indians  that  are  our  Neighbours,  and  then  proceed 
to  what  I  promis'd. 

TusJceruro  Indians  are  fifteen  Towns,  viz.  Haruta,  Waqui,  Contah- 
nah,  Anna  Ooka,  Conaub-Kare  Harooka,  Una  Nauban,  KentanusJca, 
GTiunaneets,  Kenta,  Eno,  Naur-hegh-ne,  Oonoffoora,  Tofneoc,  Non- 
awJiaritse,  NursoorooJca;  Fighting  Men  1200.  Waccon.  Towns  2, 
Tupwauremau,  Tooptatmeer,  Fighting  Men  120.  Machapunga,  Town 
1,  Maramislceet,  Fighting  Men  30.  Bear  River,  Town  1,  Baudauqua- 
quank,  Fighting  Men  50.  Maherring  Indians,  Town  1,  Maherring 
River,  Fighting  Men  50.  Chuwon  Indians,  Town  1,  Bennets  Creek, 
Fighting  Men  15.  PaspatanJc  Indians,  Town  1,  PaspatanJc  River, 
Fighting  Men  10.  PotesJceit,  Town  1,  Nortli  River,  Fighting  Men  30. 
Nottaway  Indians,  Town  1,  Winoack  Creek,  Fighting  Men  30.  Hat- 
teras  Town  1,  Sand  Banks,  Fighting  Men  16.  Connamox  Indians, 
Towns  2,  Coranine,  Raruta,  Fighting  Men  25.     Neus  Indians,  Towns 


INDIANS   OP   NOETH   CAEOLINA.  119 

2,  ChaUooJca,  RouconTc,  Fighting  Men  15.  PampticougJi  Indians, 
Town  1,  Island,  Fighting  Men  15.  Tawpim  Indians,  6  People.  These 
five  Nations  of  the  Totero's,  Sapona's,  Keiauwee's,  Aconechos,  and 
Schoccories,  are  lately  come  amongst  us,  and  may  contain,  in  all, 
about  750  Men,  Women  and  Children.     Total  4780 

Now,  there  appears  to  be  one  thousand  Six  hundred  and  twelve 
Fighting  Men,  of  our  Neighbouring  Indians;  and  probably,  there  are 
three  Fifths  of  Women  and  Children,  not  including  Old  Men,  which 
amounts  to  four  thousand  and  thirty  Savages,  besides  the  five  Nations 
lately  come.  Now,  as  I  before  hinted,  we  will  see  what  grounds  there 
are  to  make  these  People  serviceable  to  us,  and  better  themselves 
thereby. 

On  a  fair  Scheme,  we  must  first  allow  these  Savages  what  really 
belongs  to  them,  that  is,  what  good  Quahties,  and  natural  Endow- 
ments, they  possess,  whereby  they  being  in  their  proper  Colours,  the 
Event  may  be  better  guess'd  at,  and  fathom'd. 

First,  they  are  as  apt  to  learn  any  Handicraft,  as  any  People  that 
th«  World  affords;  I  will  except  none;  as  is  seen  by  their  Canoes  and 
Stauking  Heads,  which  they  make  of  themselves;  but  to  my  purpose, 
the  Indian  Slaves  in  South  Carolina,  and  elsewhere,  make  my  Argu- 
ment good. 

Secondly,  we  have  no  disciplin'd  Men  in  Europe,  but  what  have, 
at  one  time  or  other,  been  branded  with  Mutinmg,  and  Murmuring 
against  their  Cliiefs.  These  savages  are  never  found  guilty  of  that 
great  Crime  in  a  Soldier;  I  challenge  all  Mankind  to  tell  me  of  one 
Instance  of  it;  besides,  they  never  prove  Traitors  to  their  Native 
Country,  but  rather  chuse  Death  than  partake  and  side  with  the 
Enemy. 

They  naturally  possess  the  Righteous  Man's  Gift:  they  are  Patient 
under  all  Afflictions,  and  have  a  great  many  other  Natural  Vertues, 
which  I  have  shghtly  touch' d  throughout  the  Account  of  these 
Savages. 

They  are  really  better  to  us  than  we  are  to  them;  they  always  give 
us  Victuals  at  their  Quarters,  and  take  care  we  are  arm'd  against 
Hunger  and  Thhst:  We  do  not  so  by  them  (generaUy  speaking) 
but  let  them  walk  by  our  Doors  Hungry,  and  do  not  often  reheve 
them.  We  look  upon  them  with  Scorn  and  Disdain,  and  think  them 
Httle  better  than  Beasts  in  Humane  Shape,  though  if  well  examined, 
we  shall  find  that,  for  aU  our  Rehgion  and  Education,  we  possess 
more  Moral  Deformities,  and  Evils  than  these  Savages  do,  or  are 
acquainted  withal. 

•  a  -2  ■:;-  «  *  « 


EXHIBIT  F. 

HISTOBICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE  INDIANS  OF  ROBESON  COUNTY. 

[By  A.  W.  McLean.] 

It  is  our  purpose  to  state  some  facts  relating  to  the  Indians  now 
residing  in  Robeson  and  adjoining  counties  in  North  Carolina. 
These  peculiar  and  interesting  people  have  been  the  subject  of  much 
historical  research  during  the  last  half  century. 

The  first  white  settlers  who  located  in  the  section  now  comprised 
in  Kobeson  County  were  French  Huguenots,  who  immigrated  in 
large  numbers  from  France  to  South  Carolina  after  the  revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  some  of  them  had  penetrated  as  far 
north  as  the  boundary  line  of  North  Carolina,  only  a  few  miles  from 
the  present  location  of  the  Indians  in  Robeson  County,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Scotch  immigrants  settled  in  the 
upper  section  of  what  is  now  Robeson  County  as  early  as  1730. 
When  these  white  settlers  first  arrived  they  found  located  on  the 
waters  of  the  Lumbee,  as  Lumber  River  was  then  called,  a  tribe  of 
Indians  speaking  broken  English,  tilling  the  soil  in  a  rude  manner, 
and  practicing  in  rather  imperfect  ways  some  of  the  arts  practiced 
by  the  civiUzed  people  of  Europe.  There  is  abundant  evidence  that 
the  land  lying  on  the  Lumbee  River  and  upon  the  large  creeks  and 
swamps  which  are  tributary  to  it  was  a  great  Indian  camping  ground. 
While  there  were  many  small  tribes  of  Indians  inhabiting  this  section 
of  eastern  North  Carolina,  the  tribe  formerly  known  as  "Croatans," 
now  knowTi  as  "Indians  of  Robeson  County,"  occupied  the  territory 
as  far  southwest  as  the  Peedee  ^  iver,  in  South  Carolina,  but  the  prin- 
cipal seat  was  on  the  Lumber  River,  a  tributary  of  the  Peedee,  and 
the  settlement  extended  along  this  river  for  at  least  20  miles,  the 
center  of  this  settlement  being  about  the  site  of  the  present  town  of 
Pembroke.  At  first  they  held  their  lands  in  common  by  right  of 
possession,  and  this  continued  until  the  coming  of  the  white  man, 
when  ownership  in  severalty  gradually  took  the  place  of  ownership 
in  common;  however,  up  to  this  day  most  of  the  people  own  their 
lands  by  right  of  possession,  which  has  ripened  into  perfect  title. 

Hon.  Hamilton  McMillan,  an  experienced  historian  of  marked 
ability,  published  in  1888  and  again  in  1907  an  account  of  these  peo- 
ple under  the  title  of  "Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  Lost  Colony."  Mr. 
McMillan's  opinion  is  that  the  Indians  now  residing  in  Robeson  and 
adjoining  counties  are  descended  from  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  lost 
colony,  left  by  Gov.  White  on  Roanake  Island  in  1587,  and  there  are 
many  plausible  arguments  advanced  by  Mr.  McMillan  for  his  theory. 
Another  school  of  local  historians  contend  that  these  Indians  are 
descended  from  some  other  settlement  of  English-speaking  people 
along  the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  probably  near  Lockwoods  Folly, 
in  BrunsAvick  County,  N.  C.  It  is  generally  admitted  by  the  ad- 
herents of  both  of  these  theories  that  these  people  are  of  undoubted 
120 


INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA.  121 

Indian  origin  and  that  they  have  at  some  time  in  the  past  become 
mixed  to  a  more  or  less  extent  ^\dth  persons  of  Enghsh  blood.  The 
purpose  of  this  sketch  is  not  to  decide  between  these  conflicting 
contentions,  for  this  is  immaterial  to  the  purpose  of  this  mquir  v'. 

"to    what   tribe    of    INDIANS    DO    THEY    BELONG?" 

We  are  of  the  opinion  that  they  were  originally  a  part  of  the  great 
Cherokee  Tribe  of  Indians  which  inhabited  the  western  and  central 
portions  of  Carolina  before  the  advance  of  the  white  man. 

Indeed,  Mr.  McMillan,  in  his  account  before  referred  to,  takes  the 
position  that  they  are  of  Cherokee  descent,  though  we  confess  that 
we  can  not  reconcile  this  contention  %^dth  his  main  contention  that 
they  are  descendants  of  Gov.  White's  or  Sir  Walter  Ealeigh's  lost 
colony. 

Long  before  historians  began  to  study  the  origin  of  these  people 
they  claimed  to  be  of  Cherokee  descent.  In  fact,  they  have  always 
claimed  that  they  were  originally  a  part  of  the  Cherokee  Tribe  and 
that  they  gave  up  their  tribal  relation  after  they  had  participated 
with  the  white  man  in  the  war  against  the  Tuscaroras.  These 
Indians  had  great  roads  or  trails  connecting  their  settlements  ^vith 
the  principal  seat  of  the  Cherokee  Tribe  in  the  Allegheny  Mountains, 
There  is  a  weil-authenticated  tradition  among  them,  handed  dovm. 
through  several  generations,  that  this  small  remnant,  after  partic- 
ipating \vith  the  Vx^hites  in  the  war  against  the  Tuscaroras,  took  up 
many  of  the  habits  and  customs  of  the  white  man,  and  therefore 
refused  to  remove  west  with  the  great  Cherokee  Tribe.  It  is  also 
certain  that  in  this  they  were  influenced  by  the  admixtm^e  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  blood,  which  had  taken  place  to  some  extent  even  in  that  re- 
mote period. 

On  a  map  (being  map  No.  1)  of  the  transactions  of  the  American 
Ethnological  Society  the  Yemassees  are  assigned  to  the  region 
bordermg  on  the  Savannah  River;  the  Cherokees  to  the  mountain 
region;  the  Cheraws  from  the  Yemassees  along  the  coastal  region  to 
the  Pamlicos  on  Pamlico  Sound;  the  Tuscaroras  along  the  PCoanoke 
River,  and  just  south  of  them,  on  the  Nuese,  the  Woocons;  and  the 
Catawbas  in  central  North  and  South  Carolina. 

It  appears  from  Gregg's  History  of  The  Old  Cheraws  that  originally 
the  Cherokees  occupied  the  territory  assigned  on  the  map  to  the 
Catawbas.  According  to  their  tradition,  the  Catawbas,  about  the 
time  of  the  settlement  of  North  America  by  the  whites,  occupied  a 
region  far  to  the  northward,  from  whence  they  removed  to  the  South. 
Being  a  numerous  and  warlike  race,  they  vanquished  the  tribes  vnth 
whom  they  came  in  conflict  on  the  way,  until  they  met  the  Cherokees 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  now  called  the  Catawba.  Here  a  sanguinary 
battle  ensued,  the  loss  on  both  sides  being  heavy,  though  neither  party 
gained  a  victory.  Terms  of  peace  were  agreed  on,  the  Cherokees 
moving  to  the  west  and  the  Catawbas  taking  their  country.  This 
tradition  is  said  to  be  confirmed  by  ethnological  research.  The 
Cheraws  embraced  ail  the  small  tribes  of  the  Santee,  Congaree, 
Wateree,  Waccamaw,  and  Pedee.  The  Cheraws  appear  to  have  been 
a  branch  of  the  Cherokees.  In  the  language  of  the  Cherokees  ' '  chera  " 
means  fire.  From  the  terminals  of  names  Gregg  connects  the  two 
tribes.     He  says:  "If,  about  the  period  of  their  distinctive  existence 


122  INDIANS  OP  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

as  a  tribe,  being  possibly  an  offshoot  from  the  Cherokees,  at  the  era 
of  some  internal  struggle  and  partial  dismembership  of  that  once 
powerful  and  widely  extended  nation,"  etc.  And,  otherwise,  he 
suggests  that  the  Cheraws  once  belonged  to  the  Cherokees. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  settlement  he  says  that  there  were  28  small 
tribes  in  South  Carolina,  and,  in  1700,  "William  Gale,  of  Albemarle, 
mentioned  that  he  "was  just  setting  out  on  a  four  months'  voyage 
to  the  Cape  Fear,  where  he  had  sent  a  shallop's  load  of  goods  to  trade 
with  the  Indians."  Apparently  he  intended  to  pass  up  that  river 
and  go  as  far  west  as  the  mountains  to  trade  with  the  Indians.  He 
said  that  there  were  13  different  tribes  with  which  he  was  well  ac- 
quainted and  had  free  commerce. 

There  were  many  small  tribes  of  Indians  from  the  Neuse  to  the 
Savannah,  those  on  the  Cape  Fear  being  Congarees,  who  were  really 
"Cheraws,"  and  the  Cheraws,  as  Gregg  indicates,  were  doubtless  an 
offshoot  of  the  original  Cherokees  who  remained  in  their  several 
localities  at  the  time  of  the  settlement  by  the  Catawbas  and  the 
removal  of  the  great  bulk  of  the  Cherokees  to  the  mountains. 

These  circumstances  are  corroborative  of  the  opinion  of  Giles 
Leitch  that  the  Indians  of  Robeson  County  possessed  the  character- 
istics of  the  Cherokees. 

The  first  permanent  settlement  on  the  Cape  Fear,  at  old  Brunswick, 
was  about  1725.  At  that  time  there  were  many  small  Indian  tribes 
thi-oughout  that  region.  Some  ten  years  later  settlers  had  penetrated 
well  into  the  interior  and  found  on  the  upper  Cape  Fear  a  community 
who  had  some  European  characteristics,  evidently  having  mingled 
to  some  extent  with  some  of  the  European  races.  Such  is  the  first 
loiown  reference  to  this  settlement.  I^ater,  in  1752,  there  is  a  refer- 
ence to  them  as  occupying  the  territory  v/hich  they  now  hold  in  what 
is  now  Robeson  County,  and  it  was  then  reported  that  they  shot  at  ' 
a  surveyor  who  went  among  them  to  survey  land  against  their  claims. 

At  that  time  the  remnants  of  small  Indian  tribes  stUl  existed 
throughout  that  region. 

The  last  battle  with  the  Indians  in  making  the  original  settlements 
near  the  seacoast  was,  according  to  tradition,  at  the  Sugar  Loaf,  a 
few  miles  north  of  the  site  of  Fort  Fisher,  in  1725,  when  the  whites 
took  possession  of  the  lower  part  of  the  Cape  Fear  River.  The  royal 
governor  eight  years  later  estimated  the  Indians  v/ho  were  considered 
a  part  of  the  population  for  their  friendly  associations  as  numbering 
800.  On  the  outskirts  of  the  settlements  there  were  various  small 
tribes  of  Indians  inhabitmg  the  wilderness  in  lower  North  Carolina 
and  in  South  Carolina.  In  1740  a  Mr.  Vaughn  appropriated  a  large 
tract  of  land  in  Duplin  County,  together  with  a  hundred  slaves,  to 
the  purpose  of  Christianizing  five  Indian  tribes  in  that  vicinity.  As 
the  country  became  settled  these  remnants  disappeared,  and  doubt- 
less many  of  the  Indians  of  that  region  went  to  live  with  that  nucleus 
in  the  territory  now  confined  in  Robeson  County.  This  seems  to  be 
the  most  probable  account  of  the  origin  of  this  peculiar  people,  many 
of  whom  throughout  all  the  generations  appear  to  have  been  full- 
blood  Indians,  having,  as  Leitch  says,  the  characteristics  of  the 
Cherokees,  with  whom,  in  the  previous  century,  they  were  closely 
allied.  By  their  traditions  some  Indians  from  that  region  accom- 
panied Col.  Barnwell  to  the  Albemarle  in  January,  1712,  and  it 
appears  that  Barnwell  passed  close  by  their  settlements. 


IISTDIAFS   OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA.  123 

It  was  among  the  Cherokees  that  many  men  were  enlisted  to  fight 
the  Tuscaroras  in  1713,  when  North  Carolhia  called  upon  South 
Carolina  for  assistance.  This  call  was  responded  to  by  hundreds  of 
white  men,  Cherokees  and  other  Indians  under  Col.  Barnwell.  Along 
the  great  Lowrie  road  Col.  Barnwell  passed  with  his  army  to  fight 
the  Tuscaroras.  The  army  took  the  upper  road  at  Fayetteville  and 
crossed  the  Cape  Fear  at  Averasboro.  Ramsay,  in  his  liistory  of 
South  Carolina,  says,  in  volume  1,  page  156:  "Gov.  Craven  lost  no 
time  m  forwarding  a  force  to  their  assistance.  The  assembly  voted 
£4,000  for  the  service  of  the  war.  A  body  of  miUtia,  consisting  of 
600  men  under  the  command  of  Col.  Barnwell,  marched  against  the 
savages;  218  Cherokees  under  the  command  of  Capts.  Harford  and 
Turston,  79  Creelvs  under  Capt.  Hastings,  41  Catawbas  under  Capt. 
Cantey,  28  Yemassees  under  Capt.  Pierce,  joined  the  Carolinians  in 
this  expedition."  This  army  passed  through  Robeson  County,  and 
there  are  traditions  among  the  Indians  of  Robeson  County  regarding 
the  army  of  ' '  Bonnul,"  as  they  pronounced  the  name  of  Barnwell.  One 
of  these  traditions  is  that  several  of  the  Cherokees,  on  their  return 
from  the  Tuscarora  war,  located  in  Robeson  County,  brmging  their 
prisoners  with  them  as  slaves.  These  prisoners  intermarried  among 
the  Cherokees  and  became  free,  as  was  the  custom  among  Indian 
tribes. 

The  Cherokees,  from  whom  the  Indians  of  Robeson  County  claim 
descent,  were  to  some  extent  an  agricultural  people.  The  clay 
pottery  found  in  tins  section  is  ornamented  by  havmg  a  full  ear  of 
corn  rolled  over  the  surface  while  the  material  of  the  pottery  was  in 
a  plastic  state.  In  the  beginnmg  of  the  War  of  Independence  the 
colonial  troops  captured  thousands  of  bushels  of  corn  among  the 
Cherokees  in  the  mountains  of  western  North  Carolina. 

The  universal  tradition  among  the  Indians  found  in  Robeson 
County,  N.  C,  and  counties  adjoinmg  is  that  they  are  the  descendants 
of  English  people  and  the  Cherokees. 

Their  Indian  ancestors,  the  Cherokees,  according  to  their  tradition, 
had  their  principal  abidmg  place  m  the  mountams  to  the  west,  and 
had  trails  or  roads  lead  ng  to  various  pomts  on  the  coast.  On  the 
principal  one  of  these  roads,  Iviiown  as  the  Lowrie  road,  they  had 
settlements  on  the  Xeuse  River,  on  the  waters  of  Black  River,  on  the 
Cape  Fear,  Lumbee,  and  as  far  as  the  Santee  in  Soutii  Carolina. 
Their  pruicipal  settlement  was  in  the  territory  along  the  Lumbee  and 
covering  a  large  part  of  the  present  county  of  Robeson,  and  extending 
through  v.diat  is  now  Cumberland  County  as  far  as  Averasboro  on  the 
Cape  Fear.  They  had  other  trails  leading  from  the  mountains  east- 
ward, and  three  of  them  united  "svith  the  Lowrie  road  or  trail  where 
there  was  a  crossing  of  the  Cape  Fear  where  the  present  town  of 
Fayetteville  is  situated. 

John  Brooks  (ancestor  of  Aaron  Brooks,  now  living  near  Pates,  in 
Robeson  County)  was  a  soldier  in  the  American  Army  at  the  Battle 
of  Eutaw  Springs.  Soon  after  returning  from  the  Revolutionary 
War  he  died,  leaving  his  wddow,  Betsy  Brooks.  Her  name  appears 
in  the  L^nited  States  census  of  1790  as  the  head  of  a  family. 

Jacob  Locklear  also  served  in  the  American  Army  at  the  Battle  of 
Eutaw  Springs,  and  at  other  places.  This  Jacob  Locklear  had  a 
brother,  William  Locklear,  who  was  known  as  "Lazy  Will."  This 
"Lazy  Will  Locklear"  spoke  the  Cherokee  language  and  often  held 


124  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

conversations  in  Cherokee  with  Randall  Ijocklear,  Elizabeth  Lowery, 
and  others.  The  tradition  handed  down  by  the  descendants  of  Lazy 
Will  Locklear  is  that  he  and  certain  others  of  the  Indians  remained 
and  settled  on  Long  Swamp  and  Lumber  River,  in  Robeson  County, 
when  the  other  Indians  left  for  the  West.  It  is  also  a  tradition  in  this 
family  that  Lazy  Will  Locklear  and  others  of  the  Indians  fought  under 
Gen.  Barnwell.  It  is  also  stated  that  there  was  abattle  between  some  of 
the  Indians  and  others  near  the  present  town  of  Red  Springs,  and  there 
is  an  Indian  mound  there  which  is  pointed  out  to  this  day.  Recent 
investigations  disclose  the  skeletons  of  a  number  of  Indians  who  were 
buried  there.  The  remains  were  found  to  be  buried  in  the  usual 
manner  of  Indian  burying  grounds. 

Daniel  Locklear,  now  living  near  Buie,  in  Robeson  County,  is  a 
great-great-grandson  of  the  Jacob  Locklear  above  mentioned. 

The  ormnal  Lowery  Road,  now  known  by  that  name  which  passes 
through  Robeson  County  and  referred  to  in  the  Hamilton  McMillan 
History  of  the  Indians,  was  said  to  have  been  used  by  the  Indians  in 
travehng  from  Eastern  North  Carohna,  then  known  as  Roanoke  in 
Virginia,  to  the  Cheraw  and  other  Indian  settlements  in  South 
Carolina.     It  was  first  an  Indian  trail  and  was  afterwards  a  post  road. 

Jordon  Chavis,  son  of  Julia  Chavis  and  grandson  of  Ishmael  Chavis, 
is  now  75  years  of  age.  He  states  that  his  father  and  grandfather 
always  told  him.  that  their  people  were  Cherokee  Indians. 

Preston  Locklear,  age  75  years,  states  that  he  and  his  ancestors 
were  always  known  as  Indians  and  that  his  parents  taught  him  that 
his  people  Uved  here  in  Robeson  County  long  before  the  white  people 
came  here. 

Isaac  Brayboy,  age  74,  states  that  his  parents  and  grandparents 
told  him  that  their  people  were  Cherokee  Indians;  that  the  name  was 
originally  "Braveboy."     This  name  is  recorded  in  the  census  of  1790. 

James  Brayboy,  now  82  years  of  age,  states  that  his  father  and 
grandfather  always  told  him  that  his  people  were  Indians  by  the 
name  of  Braveboy.  That  they  were  living  on  Lumber  River  and 
Long  Swamp,  in  Robeson  County,  when  the  white  people  first  came 
to  this  country;  that  they  were  friendly  with  the  white  people  and 
that  they  helped  the  white  people  to  drive  out  the  unfriendly  Indians. 

It  will  be  noted  that  in  the  census  of  1790  the  name  now  known  as 
"Locklear"  is  spelled  "Lockaleer."  It  is  said  among  the  Indians 
to-day  that  this  name  in  Indian  language  was  originally  ''Locklaha." 

As  further  confirming  the  Cherokee  origin  of  these  people,  they 
have  a  tradition  that  the  brother  of  James  Lowery,  and  one  of  those 
who  fought  in  the  Revolution,  was  John  Lowery,  who  was  the  head 
man  among  the  Cherokees,  and  that  he  was  one  of  those  who  made  a 
treaty  on  behalf  of  the  Cherokees  with  the  Federal  Government.  Of 
this  they  had  a  tradition,  none  of  them  being  able  to  read  or  write. 
On  examination,  it  has  been  found  that  John  Lowery  did  sign  the 
treaty  on  behalf  of  the  Cherokees  made  in  1806.  (See  second  volume, 
Treaties,  p.  91,  CongTessional  Library.) 

This  John  Lowery  was  the  great-granduncle  of  Sinclair  Lowery, 
now  living  in  Robeson  County,  at  the  age  of  78  years. 

From  the  "War  Map,"  in  Winsor's  History  of  America,  giving  the 
routes  taken  by  Barnwell  and  taken  by  the  two  Moores,  it  appears 
that  Barnwell,  who  had  50  whites  and  some  400  Indians,  passed  along 


INDIANS  OF   NOETH   CAKOLINA.  125 

the  Santee  to  the  Congaree,  then  up  the  Wateree  to  the  vicinity  of  the 
Catawba,  embodying  detachments  of  all  these  tribes  in  his  force;  that 
turning  east  he  crossed  the  Peedee,  and  then  continued  east  a  con- 
siderable distance  and  took  a  northeast  course,  crossing  the  Cape  Fear 
about  where  Fayetteville  is;  then  ascending  that  river  to  about  the 
vicinity  of  Averasboro  he  took  a  northeast  course  to  Torhunte,  on  the 
Cotechne.  He  reached  the  Neuse,  about  Fort  Barnwell;  in  January 
1712. 

After  a  great  battle,  in  which  his  Indians  made  many  prisoners, " 
they  returned  to  South  Carolina;  and  later  he,  being  wounded,  like- 
wise returned. 

The  war  breaking  out  again.  South  CaroHna  sent  another  force 
under  Col.  James  Moore,  33  whites  and  1,000  Indians.  Col.  Moore 
pursued  the  same  route  to  the  Pedee,  but  then  turned  to  the  north- 
east and  crossed  the  Cape  Fear  at  the  junction  of  the  Haw  and  Deep, 
and  then  went  on  to  Torhunte.  He  arrived  December  1,  1712.  His 
brother,  Maj .  Maurice  Moore,  quickly  followed  him  with  another  large 
force  of  Indians.  His  route  lay  still  farther  west  by  Trading  Ford 
(near  wSaUsbury),  and  after  crossing  the  Deep  he  came  east  by  Occo- 
neechee,  where  Hillsboro  is,  and  eastward  to  Torhunte.  All  these 
routes  were  Indian  trails.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  BarnweU  alone 
passed  through  what  is  now  Robeson  County,  and  as  until  recently 
there  never  was  any  pubhcation  made  of  his  route,  it  may  be  affirmed 
that  the  tradition  stated  is  remarkable  and  noteworthy. 

Although  many  other  Indians  from  South  Carolina  accompanied 
Col.  James  Moore  to  the  Albemarle  the  following  winter,  and  a  few 
weeks  later  still  others  accompanied  Col.  Maurice  Moore,  these  expe- 
ditions did  not  pass  through  the  Robeson  region,  and  the  local  tradi- 
tions are  connected  only  with  BarnweU.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  these 
people  could  have  l-mown  nothing  of  these  matters  except  from  actual 
tradition. 

In  1756  a  similar  force  of  Indians  from  South  Carolina  accompanied 
Col,  Hugh  Waddell  in  his  expedition  to  the  north  for  the  relief  of  the 
more  northern  colonies  in  the  French  and  Indian  War.  While  there 
is  no  particular  record  of  the  fact,  yet  as  small  numbers  of  Indians 
from  almost  every  settlement  composed  this  force,  doubtless  some 
belonged  to  these  tribes  that  finally  made  up  the  population  in 
Robeson  County. 

Gregg  says  that  most  of  these  smaller  tribes  eventually  united  \vith 
the  Catawbas,  and  about  1743  the  language  of  the  Catawbas  is  said 
to  have  consisted  of  twenty  different  dialects. 

The  remaining  Indians,  in  the  course  of  settlement,  passed  from 
view,  although  "brief  allusions  are  found  in  our  early  period  to  the 
several  tribes  in  the  acts  of  the  assembly  passed  for  the  regulation  and 
support  of  the  Indian  trade." 

As  the  Indian  element  in  the  present  population  of  Robeson  County 
is  certainly  derived  from  the  former  Indians  of  that  region,  these 
people  are  entitled  to  share  in  any  feehng  of  appreciation  we  may 
have  of  the  general  conduct  of  all  these  friendly  tribes  during  the 
period  of  settlement  and  in  colonial  times. 

During  the  Revolution  some  of  these  Indians  served  in  the  Conti- 
nental ranks,  as  weU  as  in  the  more  local  organizations  raised  by  the 
State  of  North  Carolina. 


126  INDIANS  OF   NOETH  CAEOLINA. 

The  territory  embraced  in  Robeson  County  was  much  divided  in 
sentiment,  and  toward  the  close  of  the  Revolution  it  was  the  scene 
of  a  murderous  civil  warefare  of  unparalleled  atrocity. 

The  tradition  of  these  people  that  some  of  their  leaders  fought  on 
the  side  of  the  Colonies  seems  to  be  corroborated  by  certain  circum- 
stances. Giles  Leitch  says  that  during  the  Revolution  some  of  these 
families  acquired  a  considerable  number  of  slaves.  Had  they  acquired 
them  from  North  Carolinians,  these  slaves  would  have  been  recovered 
on  the  return  of  peace.  Such  slaves  as  the  British  captured,  they  sent 
either  to  Florida  or  Nova  Scotia.  It  is  therefore  probable  that  these 
slaves  held  by  these  Robeson  County  Indians  were  acquired  from 
South  Carolina.  Marion  raised  his  celebrated  band  largely  in  that 
part  of  North  Carolina,  and  as  an  inducement  for  serving  with  him 
he  offered  as  pay  to  his  North  Carolina  troopers  slaves  taken  from  the 
South  Carolina  Loyalists.  So  many  of  these  slaves  were  thus  taken 
and  held  by  his  North  Carolina  troopers  that  after  the  war  the  ques- 
tion of  their  return  became  a  matter  of  State  legislation. 

After  the  war,  feeling  against  the  local  Tories  ran  so  high  that  they 
were  discriminated  against  and  severe  tests  of  loyalty  were  applied. 
There  seems  to  have  been  no  feeling  against  these  Indians,  for  al- 
though not  white  they  were  allowed  to  vote  as  "freemen,"  without 
any  change  being  made  in  the  law  to  include  them,  although  only 
whites  had  earher  been  allowed  to  vote.  They  voted  until  1835, 
when  the  Constitution  was  changed  by  the  insertion  of  the  word 
"white."  ' 

Had  they  been  of  the  Tory  element  probably  they  would  not  have 
been  allowed  the  right  of  suffrage,  because  the  feeling  against  the 
Tories  was  very  bitter,  especially  in  that  region  where  they  lived. 

During  the  War  of  1812  they  were  enrolled  in  the  militia;  and  among 
others,  Charles  Oxendine,  Thomas  Locklier,  John  Drinkwater,  Hugh 
Locklear,  William  Bullard,  Elias  Bullard,  Richard  Bullard,  and 
Stephen  Cumboe  were  in  the  companies  of  militia  detached  from  the 
Robeson  regiments  for  service  in  that  war.  (See  Muster  Rolls  Troops 
of  1812,  State  Library  at  Raleigh.) 

Up  to  1835  these  Indians  were  entitled  to  vote,  and  some  of  them 
owned  slaves.  A  number  of  them  appear  as  heads  of  families  in  the 
United  States  census  of  1790. 

After  1835  these  people  could  not  vote,  nor  were  they  prior  to  the 
Civil  War  admitted  to  the  public  schools  when  they  were  established. 

In  1867  they  were  allowed  to  vote  under  the  reconstruction  acts, 
and  under  the  constitution  adopted  in  1868,  and  were  entitled  to 
attend  the  negro  schools,  but  not  the  schools  for  the  whites.  But 
they  refused  absolutely  to  attend  the  negro  schools,  and  thus  were 
debarred  from  school  privileges. 

Attention  was  drawn  to  their  pecuhar  social  status,  and  as  they 
were  of  undoubted  Indian  extraction  Hon.  Hamilton  McMillan,  who 
inquired  into  their  history,  reached  the  conclusion  that  they  were  de- 
scended from  the  Indians  on  Croatan  Sound  and  derived  their  white 
blood  from  the  lost  colony  of  1587.  This  idea  was  based  on  their 
partly  civilized  condition  when  first  observed  by  the  early  settlers  of 
that  region  about  1730.  Under  that  impression,  the  legislature  in 
1885  provided  separate  common  schools  for  them  under  the  name  of 
the  "Croatan  Indians." 

» AU  freemen  voted  before  1835. -S.  B.  W. 


INDIANS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA.  127 

The  word  ''Croatan"  is  not  a  generic  or  tribal  name,  but  was  purely 
local,  and  this  appellation  was  given  to  these  Indians  in  the  act  of 
the  legislature  in  1885  at  the  instance  of  the  Hon.  Hamilton  McMillan. 
The  name  having  been  suggested  by  the  word  ''Croatan"  which  was 
found  on  a  tree  after  the  disappearance  of  Gov.  John  White's  lost 
colony.  In  1911  the  legislature  changed  the  name  to  "Indians  of 
Robeson  County.'' 

But  whatever  the  origin  of  the  Indians  of  this  community  was,  it  is 
certain  that  from  the  first  settlement  they  have  been  separated  from 
the  other  inhabitants  of  that  region,  and  are  of  Indian  descent,  with 
Indian  characteristics,  with  complexion,  features,  and  hair  of  the 
Indian  race,  and  are  now  borne  on  the  census  rolls  as  Indians. 

NEED    OF    BETTER    SCHOOL    FACILITIES. 

While  they  have  the  ordinary  common  schools  and  a  small  normal 
school,  as  they  can  not  attend  the  high  institutions  provided  on  the 
one  hand  for  the  whites  and  on  the  other  hand  for  the  negroes,  their 
educational  facilities  are  limited. 

It  is  very  desirable,  therefore,  that  additional  educational  facilities 
should  be  afforded  them,  especially  in  the  way  of  higher  academic  and 
industrial  education. 

It  appears  that  they  have  capacity  for  agriculture  and  the  mechanic 
arts,  and  readily  become  sldlled  in  them  when  trained.  A  mechanical 
and  industrial  school  would  be  of  great  benefit  to  them. 

In  hke  manner  the  training  of  the  girls  in  the  domestic  arts  and 
economics  would  be  of  great  benefit. 

These  people  never  had  a  reservation  set  apart  for  them,  as  the 
Catawbas  had  not  far  to  the  west  of  them. 

The  bill  under  consideration,  which  has  passed  the  Senate,  provides 
for  an  appropriation  of  $50,000  to  erect  buddings  for  a  school  for  these 
Indians  at  or  near  Pembroke,  in  Robeson  County. 

According  to  the  census  of  1910,  the  number  of  these  Indians  in 
Robeson  County  was  5,895.  There  are  also  about  1,500  to  2,000  in 
adjoining  counties  in  North  and  South  Carolina,  making  a  settlement 
in  aU  of  about  8,000  persons.  In  1909  there  were  enrolled  in  the 
ordinary  common  free  schools  provided  by  the  State  1,594  of  these 
Indian  children.  The  average  length  of  the  term  of  their  school  dis- 
tricts was  82  days.  The  only  school  facihties  enjoyed  by  them  other 
than  the  ordinary  common  school  above  mentioned  is  a  normal  school 
for  the  training  of  teachers,  provided  for  by  the  State  at  an  annual 
cost  of  $2,250.  Under  the  laws  of  North  Carohna,  which  provide  for 
the  absolute  separation  of  the  races,  they  are  not  entitled  to  attend 
the  university  for  men,  the  State  normal  and  industrial  college  for 
women,  or  the  agricultural  and  mechanical  coUege  for  either  the  white 
or  negro  races.  They  are  therefore  entirely  without  the  facilities  for 
industrial  or  higher  academic  education.  There  has  always  been  a 
f8ehng  among  these  people  and  their  white  neighbors  that  the  Federal 
Government  should  make  some  provision  for  them,  for  the  reason 
that  the  Government  does  expend  large  sums  of  money  every  year 
in  providing  schools  for  other  nonreservation  Indians  in  aU  sections 
of  the  country.     The  present  Indian  appropriation  bill  provides  for 


128  INDIANS   OP    NORTH   CAEOLINA. 

more  than  a  million  dollars  for  this  purpose,  some  provisions  in  that 
bill  being  as  follows : 

For  support  and  education  of  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  Indian  pupils  at  the 
Indian  school  at  Genoa,  Nebraska,  and  for  pay  of  superintendent,  $62,300;  for  general 
repairs  and  improvements,  $4,500;  in  all,  $66,800. 

For  support  and  education  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  Indian  pupils  at  the  Indian 
school  at  Cherokee,  North  Carolina,  and  for  pay  of  superintendent,  $30,000;  for  general 
repairs  and  improvements,  $6,000;  in  all,  $36,000. 

For  support  and  education  of  one  hundred  Indian  pupils  at  the  Indian  school, 
Bismarck,  North  Dakota,  and  for  pay  of  superintendent,  $18,200;  for  general  repairs 
and  improvements,  $2,000;  in  all,  $20,200. 

For  support  and  education  of  Indian  pupils  at  the  Indian  school  at  Carlisle,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  for  pay  of  superintendent,  $132,000;  for  general  repairs  and  improve- 
ments, $20,000;  in  all,  $152,000. 

For  support  and  education  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  Indian  pupils  at  the 
Indian  school  at  Pierre,  South  Dakota,  and  for  pay  of  superintendent,  $32,000;  for 
general  repairs  and  improvements,  $10,000;  in  all,  $42,000. 

For  the  support  and  education  of  two  hundred  and  ten  Indian  pupils  at  the  Indian 
school  at  Hayward,  Wisconsin,  and  for  pay  of  superintendent,  $36,670;  for  general 
repairs  and  improvements,  $2,500;  in  all,  $39,170. 

It  appears  from  a  letter  from  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  Bu- 
reau of  Indian  Affairs,  that  there  are  22  nonreservation  Indian  schools 
in  various  parts  of  the  United  States  now  supported  by  the  Govern- 
ment, none  of  these  being  situated  in  the  Southern  States. 

It  appears  that  these  schools  are  not  connected  with  reservations 
or  agencies,  but  are  maintained  especially  for  Indians  of  any  tribe 
coming  usually  from  that  part  of  the  country  in  which  the  school  is 
situated,  and  pupils  are  admitted  whose  parents  are  entirely  free  from 
governmental  control  or  guardianship,  and  who  in  some  cases  hold  their 
lands  without  restriction,  the  only  condition  of  admittance  being  that 
they  would  otherwise  be  deprived  of  an  opportunity  to  obtain  an 
education,  academic  or  industrial.  It  is  submitted  that  the  condition 
of  the  Indians  in  question  fully  meets  these  requirements,  because 
they  are  debarred  by  the  laws  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina  from 
attending  the  colleges  and  schools  of  higher  education,  both  academic 
and  industrial. 


LETTER   OF   A.   W.   McLEAN,    SEPTEMBER   7,    1914. 

LuMBERTON,  N.  C,  SefteTYibev  7,  191^. 
The  honorable  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Deimrtment  of  the  Interior,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  promised  Mr.  O.  M.  McPherson,  special  Indian  agent, 
who  recently  spent  some  time  in  Lumberton  investigating  the  Chero- 
kee Indians  of  Robeson  County,  that  I  would  probably  send  him 
some  further  information  in  connection  with  these  Indians  which  he 
might  be  able  to  use  in  making  his  report. 

I  have  made  a  very  careful  study  of  the  history  of  these  Indians 
for  a  number  of  years.  In  a  hearing  before  the  Committee  on  Indian 
Affairs  of  the  House  of  Representatives  on  Friday,  February  14, 
1913,  I  submitted  an  historical  sketch  of  these  Indians,  a  copy  of 
which  I  furnished  to  Mr.  McPherson.  Supplementing  that  sketch, 
I  desire  to  submit  the  following  as  bearing  upon  their  contention 
that  they  are  of  Cherokee  origin : 

My  opinion  is,  from  a  very  exhaustive  examination  made  before 
and  after  the  hearing  above  mentioned,  that  these  Indians  are  not 


IISTDIAISrS   OF   NOETH   CAEOLUSTA.  129 

only  descendants  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  lost  colony,  as  contended 
by  Mr.  Hamilton  McMillan  in  his  statement,  a  copy  of  which  Mr. 
McPherson  has  in  his  possession,  but  that  they  are  also  mixed  with 
the  Cherokee  Indians.  In  the  first  place,  these  Indians  hare  con- 
tended from  time  immemorial  that  they  were  of  Cherokee  descent, 
and  they  further  have  had  a  tradition  among  them  that  their  ances- 
tors, or  some  of  them,  came  from  "Roanoke  and  Virginia."  Roanoke 
and  Virginia,  of  course,  originally  comprised  all  of  eastern  North 
Carolina,  including  Roanoke  Island,  the  settlement  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh's  lost  colony. 

In  the  great  war  with  the  Tuscaroras  in  eastern  North  Carolina 
Barnwell's  army  was  made  up  largely  of  Indians,  and  especially 
Cherokee  Indians.  The  only  serious  contention  made  against  the 
claim  that  they  are  Cherokees  is  that  the  Cherokees  live  farther 
west.  In  view  of  their  tradition  that  upon  their  return  from  eastern 
North  Carolina  with  Barnwell's  army  some  of  them  stopped  and 
settled  in  Robeson  County,  there  seems  to  be  nothing  in  this  conten- 
tion. This  tradition  is  borne  out  by  the  fact  that  the  great  road 
traveled  by  Barnwell  in  his  expedition  to  eastern  North  CaroUna  was 
along  the  Lowrie  Road,  which  passes  immediately  tlu-ough  the  pres- 
ent settlement  of  these  Indians.  (See  Wilhamson's  History  of  North 
Carolina,  Vol.  I,  pp.  194,  etc.  See  also  History  of  the  Old  Cheraws, 
by  Gregg,  pp.  1  to  31.  See  especially  map  between  pp.  2  and  3, 
which  shows  that  the  Cheraws  were  located  in  all  that  section  between 
the  Cape  Fear  River  and  the  Catawba  River.  See  also  on  page  7 
reference  to  Lederer's  journey,  in  wliich  it  is  stated  that  he  made 
his  journey  entering  the  State  of  North  Carohna  somewhere  in  Robe- 
son Coimty,  crossing  in  a  southwestern  hne,  and  passing  through, 
Robeson  County  into  South  Carohna.  His  road  was  along  the  Great 
Lowrie  Road,  which  was  originally  an  Indian  trail,  and  which  passes 
directly  through  the  heart  of  the  Indian  settlement  in  Robeson 
County.     See  also  Hawks's  History  of  North  Carohna.) 

As  will  be  noted  from  the  historical  sketch  given  by  me  at  the 
committee  hearing  hereinbefore  mentioned,  John  Lowrie  signed  a 
treaty  on  the  part  of  the  Cherokee  Indians  with  the  United  States 
Government  in  1806,  This  John  Lowrie  was  the  ancestor  of  some 
of  the  Lowrie  Indians  now  living  in  Robeson  County.  His  brother, 
James  Lowrie,  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  Indians  in  the  county 
in  the  year  1810. 

Several  of  these  Indians  served  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  John 
Brooks  was  granted  a  pension  by  the  United  States  Government  for 
services  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  (See  warrant  No.  80030,  issued 
to  John  Brooks  for  160  acres  of  bounty  land  for  his  services  in  the 
Revolutionary  War.  See  also  Revolutionary  War  pension  file  No. 
6732,  pension  order.)  In  Volume  XXII  of  the  North  Carohna  State 
Records,  pages  56  and  57,  it  appears  that  the  following  Indians  of 
Robeson  County  received  a  pension  from  the  Government  for  service 
in  the  Revolutionary  War:  John  Brooks,  James  Brooks,  Berry  Hunt, 
Thomas  Jacobs,  Michael  ReveUs,  Richard  Bell,  Samuel  Bell,  Primas 
Jacobs,  Thomas  Cummings,  and  John  Hammond,  these  pensions 
having  been  granted  under  the  Federal  acts  of  1818  and  1832. 

In  1871,  while  Congress  was  investigating  the  operations  of  the 
Ku-Klux,  the  Hon.  Giles  Leach,  then  a  prominent  lawyer  residing 

75321°— S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 9 


130  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

at  Lumberton,  Robeson  County,  was  summoned  to  appear  before  a 
congressional  committee  in  Washington  to  testify  in  regard  to  the 
condition  of  affairs  in  Robeson  County.  He  was  naturally  very 
unfriendly  to  the  Indians,  because  he  admitted  in  his  testimony  that 
he  was  employed  by  the  State  of  North  Carolina  to  prosecute  some 
of  them.  Notwithstanding  his  prejudice,  when  asked  the  question 
as  to  what  race  the  Lowries  and  the  other  Indians  belonged  to,  he 
said: 

Well,  sir,  I  desire  to  tell  you  the  truth  as  near  as  I  can.  I  think  they  are  a  mixture 
of  Spanish  and  Indian.  They_  have  straight  black  hair  and  many  of  the  character- 
istics of  the  Cherokee  Indians  in  our  State. 

When  asked  the  question  as  to  what  blood  there  was  in  the  Lowrie 
family,  he  said: 

I  think  the  father  was  an  Indian.  I  think  the  family  had  about  all  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  Cherokee  Indians  of  our  State.  The  mother  was  named  Cumboe, 
and  I  think  it  very  likely  that  there  may  have  been  some  white  blood  an  the  Cumboe 
family.     The  Lowrie  family  is  Indian. 

I  regard  this  testimony  of  the  Hon.  Giles  Leach  as  very  important 
as  bearing  upon  the  fact  that  these  Indians  are  of  Cherokee  descent, 
because,  as  stated,  he  was  strongly  prejudiced  against  them  and 
evidently  gave  no  testimony  favorable  to  them  except  where  he  felt 
obliged  to  do  so. 

It  is  inconceivable  that  these  Indians  should  have  had  a  tradition 
in  their  families  which  can  be  traced  for  more  than  a  hundred  years 
to  the  effect  that  they  were  of  Cherokee  origin  unless  there  was  some- 
thing in  the  statement.  It  will  be  noted  in  the  pamphlet  published 
by  the  Hon,  Hamilton  McMillan  that  they  always  claimed  to  him 
that  they  were  of  Cherokee  origin.  The  investigation  I  have  made  of 
them  for  the  last  20  or  25  years  has  ehcited  the  universal  tradition  and 
history  that  their  Indian  blood  was  Cherokee.  It  is  entirely  possible, 
of  course,  that  there  may  have  been  a  mixture  of  some  other  Indian 
blood.  In  fact,  it  is  generally  believed  that  the  Cheraws  and  a 
number  of  other  native  Indian  tribes  who  originally  lived  on  the 
border  line  of  North  and  South  Carolina  were  mixed  more  or  less 
with  the  Cherokee  Indians. 

The  fact  that  such  reliable  historians  as  Capt.  S.  A.  Ashe,  the 
author  of  a  history  of  North  Carolina,  Hon.  Hamilton  McMillan,  a 
man  now  over  80  years  of  age,  who  has  Uved  in  this  section  all  his 
hfe  and  who  has  made  a  special  study  of  these  Indians,  and  the  Hon. 
Giles  Leach,  who  was  one  of  the  most  noted  local  historians  who 
ever  lived  in  this  section^ — the  very  fact,  I  say,  that  they  have  all 
stated  that  it  is  their  positive  opinion  from  their  investigations  that 
these  people  have  Cherokee  blood  in  them  is,  when  coupled  with  their 
own  universal  tradition  to  that  effect,  conclusive  proof  that  they  have 
Cherokee  blood  in  their  veins.  Indeed,  it  would  be  practically  impos- 
sible to  prove  the  family  or  tribal  relation  of  any  people  by  stronger 
or  more  convincing  proof. 

I  inclose  statement  of  Wash  Lowrie,  a  very  old  Indian,  which  is 
practically  the  same  as  the  others  with  whom  I  have  talked  for  the 
last  25  years. 

Yours,  truly, 

A.  W.  McLean. 


INDIANS    OF    NORTH    CAEOLINA.  131 

STATEMENT    OF    WASH   LOWKIE    TO    A.    W.    McLEAN. 

On  July  14,  1914,  I  interviewed  Wash  Lowrie  at  his  home  on  ti 
Lowrie  Road,  about  2  miles  north  of  Pembroke.  He  stated  that  ho 
lacked  a  few  months  of  being  80  years  of  age.  That  his  father  was 
Daniel  Lowrie,  who  died  about  1864,  age  7  J  years,  and  Daniel  LoAvrie 
was  a  natural  son  of  James  Lowrie.  This  James  Lowrie  was  one  of 
the  original  Indians  in  this  section  and  was  very  well  off  at  the  time 
of  his  death  in  1810.  (See  his  will,  recorded  in  book  of  wills  No.  1, 
p.  121,  ofFice  clerk  superior  court,  Robeson  County.)  The  mother  of 
Daniel  Lowrie  was  Sarah  Locklear.  Other  descendants  of  James 
Lowrie  now  living  in  this  section  are  the  following:  Luther  Dees  and 
John  Dees,  sons  of  Silas  Lowrie,  who  was  a  son  of  Thomas  I^owrie, 
and  Thomas  Lowrie  was  a  son  of  James  Lowrie.  Sinclair  Lowrie  and 
James  Lowrie  and  Pert  Ransom  are  all  children  of  Allen  Lowrie,  who 
was  a  son  of  the  original  James  Lowrie.  This  James  Lowrie  first 
lived  in  the  upper  part  of  Robeson  County,  now  Hoke  County.  He 
afterwards  moved  to  Harpers  Ferry,  on  Lumber  River,  and  main- 
tained first  a  ferry  and  afterwards  a  toll  bridge  at  that  point.  He  laid 
out  and  constructed  the  Lowrie  Road.  Wash  Lowrie  says  that  this 
James  Lowrie  was  a  nephew  of  Col.  John  Lowrie,  who  was  one  time 
chief  of  the  Cherokees  and  who  signed  a  treaty  on  behalf  of  the  Chero- 
kees  to  the  United  States  Government.  He  further  states  that  he 
knew  old  John  Brooks  well,  having  seen  him  a  number  of  times  before 
he  died.  This  John  Brooks  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 
(See  application  for  pension  in  the  records  of  the  War  Department  at 
Washington.)  Wash  Lowrie  says  that  old  John  Brooks  died  at  the 
age  of  about  110  years.  His  application  for  pension  states  that  he 
was  about  90  or  96  years  old  when  the  pension  was  granted.  Says 
that  he  was  told  by  Aaron  Revels,  then  100  years  old,  and  Daniel 
Lowrie,  his  father,  then  73  years  old,  and  Joe  Chavis,  age  90,  that 
these  Indians  in  Robeson  County  came  from  Roanoke,  in  Virginia. 
That  after  remaining  in  Robeson  County  for  some  time  they  went  to 
the  mountains  with  the  other  Cherokees,  but  a  number  returned  on 
account  of  leaving  relatives  in  Robeson  County,  where  they  had 
mixed  with  the  other  tribes  and  probably  with  several  of  the  whites. 

The  United  States  census  of  1790  shows  only  a  few  Indian  families 
in  Robeson  County  at  the  time  of  taking  that  census. 

Wash  Lowiie  states  further  that  he  has  often  heard  of  Hugh  Lock- 
lear, who  served  in  the  War  of  1812,  and  that  Nelson  Locklear,  now 
living  in  Robeson  County,  is  a  great  grandson  of  this  Hugh  Locklear, 
and  that  Hector  Locklear's  wife  is  a  great  granddaughter.  That  he 
has  often  heard  of  Stephen  Cumbo,  who  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of 
1812.  That  Abbie  Cumbo,  who  married  Allen  Lowrie,  was  a  daughter 
of  this  Stephen  Cumbo. 

This  Wash  Lowrie  is  now  in  very  bad  health,  having  suffered  a  stroke 
of  paralysis,  but  his  mind  and  memory  seem  to  be  good.  He  has 
many  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Indians.  An  enlarged  photograph 
can  be  obtained,  as  he  has  one  hanging  in  his  bedroom. 


132  INDIANS   OP    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

OFFICE   LETTER  OF   SEPTEMBER   14,   1914,  TO   A.  W.  McLEAN. 

September  14,  1914. 

:Mr.  A.  W.  McI^EAN, 

President  Barik  of  Lumberton,  Lumherton,  N.  C. 
Dear  Sir:  The  office  has  received  your  letter  of  vSeptember  7,  1914, 
submitting  certain  matter  relating  to  the  Indians  of  Robeson  County, 
N.  C,  and  the  same  has  been  referred  to  Special  Agent  McPherson 
for  consideration  in  connection  with  his  investigation  of  the  affairs 
of  said  Indians,  in  obedience  to  Senate  resolution  410  and  the  instruc- 
tions of  this  office. 

Very  respectfully, 

E.  B.  Meritt, 
Assistant  Commissioner. 


EXHIBIT  Q. 

HISTORY   OF   THE    CHEBOKEE    INDIANS. 

[From  Nineteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology.] 
THE   TRADITION AEY   PERIOD. 

The  Cherokee  were  the  mountaineers  of  the  South,  holding  the 
entire  Allegheny  region  from  the  interlocking  head-streams  of  the 
Kanawha  and  the  Tennessee  southward  almost  to  the  site  of  Atlanta, 
and  from  the  Blue  Ridge  on  the  east  to  the  Cumberland  Range  on  the 
west,  a  territory  comprising  an  area  of  about  40,000  square  miles, 
now  included  in  the  States  of  Virginia,  Tennessee,  North  Carohna,  South 
Carohna,  Georgia,  and  Alabama.  Their  principal  towns  were  upon 
the  headwaters  of  the  Savannah,  Hiwassee,  and  Tuckasegee,  and  along 
the  whole  length  of  the  Little  Tennessee  to  its  junction  with  the  main 
stream.  ItsatI,  or  Echota,  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Little  Tennessee, 
a  few  miles  above  the  mouth  of  Telhco  River,  in  Tennessee,  was  com- 
monly considered  the  capital  of  the  nation.  As  the  advancing  whites 
pressed  upon  them  from  the  east  and  northeast  the  more  exposed 
towns  were  destroyed  or  abandoned  and  new  settlements  were  formed 
lower  down  the  Tennessee  and  on  the  upper  branches  of  the  Chatta- 
hoochee and  the  Coosa. 

As  is  always  the  case  with  tribal  geography,  there  were  no  fixed 
boundaries,  and  on  every  side  the  Cherokee  frontiers  were  contested 
by  rival  claimants.  In  Virginia,  there  is  reason  to  beheve,  the  tribe 
was  held  in  check  in  early  days  by  the  Powhatan  and  the  Monacan. 
On  the  east  and  southeast  the  Tuscarora  and  Catawba  were  their 
inveterate  enemies,  with  hardly  even  a  momentary  truce  within  the 
historic  period;  and  evidence  goes  to  show  that  the  Sara  or  Cheraw 
were  fully  as  hostile.  On  the  south  there  was  hereditary  war  with  the 
Creeks,  who  claimed  nearly  the  whole  of  upper  Georgia  as  theirs  by 
original  possession,  but  who  were  being  gradually  pressed  doum 
toward  the  Gulf  until,  through  the  mediation  of  the  United  States, 
a  treaty  was  finally  made  fixing  the  boundary  between  the  two  tribes 
along  a  line  running  about  due  west  from  the  mouth  of  Broad  River 
on  the  Savannah.  Toward  the  west,  the  Chickasaw  on  the  lower 
Tennessee  and  the  Shawano  on  the  Cumberland  repeatedly  turned 
back  the  tide  of  Cherokee  invasion  from  the  rich  central  valleys, 
while  the  powerful  Iroquois  in  the  far  north  set  up  an  almost  unchal- 
lenged claim  of  paramount  lordship  from  the  Ottawa  River  of  Canada 
southward  at  least  to  the  Kentucky  River. 

On  the  other  hand,  by  tlieir  defeat  of  the  Creeks  and  expulsion  of 
the  Shawano,  the  Cherokee  made  good  the  claim  which  they  asserted 
to  all  the  lands  from  upper  Georgia  to  the  Ohio  River,  including  the 
rich  hunting  grounds  of  Kentucky.  Holding  as  they  did  the  great 
mountain  barrier  between  the  Enghsh  settlements  on  the  coast  and 
the  French  or  Spanish  garrisons  along  the  Mississippi  and  the  Ohio, 
their  geographic  position,  no  less  than  their  superior  number,  would 

133 


134  INDIANS   OP   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

have  given  them  the  balance  of  power  in  the  South  but  for  a  looseness 
of  tribal  organization  in  striking  contrast  to  the  compactness  of  the 
Iroquois  league,  by  which  for  more  than  a  century  the  French  power 
was  held  in  check  in  the  north.  The  English,  indeed,  found  it  con- 
venient to  recognize  certain  chiefs  as  supreme  in  the  tribe,  but  the 
only  real  attempt  to  weld  the  whole  Cherokee  Nation  into  a  political 
unit  was  that  made  by  the  French  agent,  Priber,  about  1736,  which  failed 
from  its  premature  discovery  by  the  Enghsh.  We  frequently  find 
their  kingdom  divided  against  itself,  their  very  number  preventing 
unity  of  action,  while  still  giving  them  an  importance  above  that 
of  neighboring  tribes. 

The  proper  name  by  which  the  Cherokee  call  themselves  is 
YM'wiya',  or  Aiii'-YM'wiya'  in  the  third  person,  signifying  "real 
people,"  or  "principal  people,"  a  word  closely  related  to  Onwe-honwe, 
the  name  by  which  the  cognate  Iroquois  know  themselves.  The  word 
properly  denotes  "Indians,"  as  distinguished  from  people  of  other 
races,  but  in  usage  it  is  restricted  to  mean  members  of  the  Cherokee 
Tribe,  those  of  other  tribes  being  designated  as  Creek,  Catawba,  etc., 
as  the  case  may  be.  On  ceremonial  occasions  they  frequently  speak  of 
themselves  as  Ani'-Eatu'  hwag]f,  or  "people  of  Kitu'hwa,"  an  ancient 
settlement  on  Tuckasegee  River  and  apparently  the  original  nucleus  of 
the  tribe.  Among  the  w^estern  Cherokee  this  name  has  been  adopted 
by  a  secret  society  recruited  from  the  full-blood  element  and  pledged 
to  resist  the  advances  of  the  white  man's  civilization.  Under  the 
various  forms  of  Cuttawa,  Gattochwa,  Kittuwa,  etc.,  as  spelled  by 
different  authors,  it  was  also  used  by  several  northern  Algonquian 
tribes  as  a  synonym  for  Cherokee. 

Cherokee,  the  name  by  which  they  are  commonly  known,  has  no 
meaning  in  their  own  language,  and  seems  to  be  of  foreign  origin. 
As  used  among  themselves  the  form  is  Tsa'lagl'  or  Tsa'ragl'.  It  first 
appears  as  Chalaque  in  the  Portuguese  narrative  of  De  Soto's  expedi- 
tion, published  originally  in  1557,  while  we  find  Cheraqui  in  a  French 
document  of  1699,  and  Cherokee  as  an  English  form  as  early,  at  least, 
as  1708.  The  name  has  thus  an  authentic  history  of  360  years.  There 
is  evidence  that  it  is  derived  from  the  Choctaw  word  chotuk  or  chiluk, 
signifying  a  pit  or  cave,  and  comes  to  us  through  the  so-called  Mobi- 
lian  trade  language,  a  corrupted  Choctaw  jargon  formerly  used  as  the 
medium  of  communication  among  all  the  tribes  of  the  Gulf  States,  as 
far  north  as  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio.  Within  this  area  many  of  the 
tribes  were  commonly  known  under  Choctaw  names,  even  though  of 
widely  differing  hnguistic  stocks,  and  if  such  a  name  existed  for  the 
Cherokee  it  must  undoubtedly  have  been  communicated  to  the  first 
Spanish  explorers  by  De  Soto's  interpreters.  This  theory  is  borne 
out  by  their  Iroquois  (Mohawk)  name,  Oyata'ge'ronon',  as  given  by 
Hewitt,  signifying  "inhabitants  of  the  cave  countr}^"  the  Allegheny 
region  being  peculiarly  a  cave  country,  in  which  "rock  shelters,"  con- 
taining numerous  traces  of  Indian  occupancy,  are  of  frequent  occur- 
rence. Their  Catawba  name  also,  Manteran,  as  given  by  Gatschet, 
signifying  "coming  out  of  the  ground,"  seems  to  contain  the  same 
reference.  Adair's  attempt  to  connect  the  name  Cherokee  with  their 
word  for  fire,  atsila,  is  an  error  founded  upon  imperfect  knowledge  of 
the  language. 

Among  other  synonyms  for  the  tribe  are  Rickahockan,  or  Recha- 
hecrian,  the  ancient  Powhatan  name,  and  TaUige',  or  Tallige'wi,  the 


S.  Doc.  677,  63-3. 


MAP   OF  THE   CHEROKEE   COUNTRY. 
(From  Nineteenth  Annual   Report  of  the  Bureau  of  American   Ethnology.) 


INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA.^  135 

ancient  name  used  in  tlie  Walam  Oliun  chronicle  of  the  Lenape'.  Con- 
cerning both  the  application  and  the  etymology  of  this  last  name  there 
has  been  much  dispute,  but  there  seems  no  reasonable  doubt  as  to  the 
identity  of  the  people. 

Linguistically  the  Cherokee  belong  to  the  Iroquoian  stock,  the 
relationship  having  been  suspected  by  Barton  over  a  century  ago,  and 
by  Gallatin  and  Hale  at  a  later  period,  and  definitely  established  by 
Hewitt  in  1887.^  While  there  can  now  be  no  question  of  the  connec- 
tion, the  marked  lexical  and  grammatical  differences  indicate  that  the 
separation  must  have  occurred  at  a  very  early  period.  As  is  usually 
the  case  with  a  large  tribe  occupying  an  extensive  territory,  the  lan- 
guage is  spoken  in  several  dialects,  the  principal  of  which  may,  for 
want  of  other  names,  be  conveniently  designated  as  the  Eastern,  Mid- 
dle, and  Western.  Adair's  classification  into  "Ayrate"  {e'ladl),  or 
low,  and  "Ottare"  {d'tall),  or  mountainous,  must  be  rejected  as 
imperfect. 

The  Eastern  dialect,  formerly  often  called  the  Lower  Cherokee 
dialect,  was  originally  spoken  in  all  the  towns  upon  the  waters  of  the 
Keowee  and  Tugaloo,  head  streams  of  Savannah  River,  in  South  Caro- 
lina and  the  adjacent  portion  of  Georgia.  Its  chief  peculiarity  is  a 
rolling  r,  which  takes  the  place  of  the  Z  of  the  other  dialects.  In 
this  dialect  the  tribal  name  is  Tsa'ragl',  which  the  English  settlers  of 
Carolina  corrupted  to  Cherokee,  while  the  Spaniards,  advancing  from 
the  south,  became  better  familiar  with  the  other  form,  which  they 
wrote  as  Chalaque.  Owing  to  their  exposed  frontier  position,  adjoin- 
ing the  white  settlements  of  Carolina,  the  Cherokee  of  this  division 
were  the  first  to  feel  the  shock  of  war  in  the  campaigns  of  1760  and 
1776,  with  the  result  that  before  the  close  of  the  Revolution  they  had 
been  completely  extirpated  from  their  original  territory  and  scattered 
as  refugees  among  the  more  western  towns  of  the  tribe.  The  con- 
sequence was  that  they  lost  their  distinctive  dialect,  which  is  now 
practically  extinct.  In  1888  it  was  spoken  by  but  one  man  on  the 
reservation  in  North  Carolina. 

The  Middle  dialect,  which  might  properly  be  designated  the  Kituhwa 
dialect,  was  originally  spoken  in  the  towns  on  the  Tuckasegee  and  the 
headwaters  of  the  Little  Tennessee,  m  the  very  heart  of  the  Cherokee 
country,  and  is  still  spoken  by  the  great  majority  of  those  now  living  on 
the  Qualla  Reservation.  In  some  of  its  phonetic  forms  it  agrees  with 
the  Eastern  dialect,  but  resembles  the  Western  in  having  the  I  sound. 

The  Western  dialect  was  spoken  in  most  of  the  towns  of  east  Ten- 
nessee and  upper  Georgia  and  upon  Hiwassee  and  Cheowa  Rivers  in 
North  Carolina.  It  is  the  softest  and  most  musical  of  all  the  dialects 
of  this  musical  language,  having  a  frequent  liquid  I  and  eliding  many 
of  the  harsher  consonants  found  in  the  other  forms.  It  is  also  the 
literary  dialect,  and  is  spoken  by  most  of  those  now  constituting  the 
Cherokee  Nation  in  the  West. 

Scattered  among  the  other  Cherokee  are  individuals  whose  pronun- 
ciation and  occasional  peculiar  terms  for  familiar  objects  give  indica- 
tion of  a  fourth  and  perhaps  a  fifth  dialect,  which  can  not  now  be 
localized.     It  is  possible  that  these  differences  may  come  from  for- 

1  Barton,  Benj.  S.,  New  Views  on  the  Origin  of  the  Tribes  and  Nations  of  America,  p.  xlv,  passim; 
Phila.,  1797;  GallatinjAlbert,  Synopsis  of  Indian  'iribes,  'I'rans.  American  Antiquarian  Society,  n,  p. 
91;  Cambridge,  1836;  Hewitt,  J.  N.  B.,  The  Cherokee  an  Iroquoian  Language,  Washington,  1887,  (MS. 
in  the  archives  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology). 


136  .INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

eign  admixture,  as  of  Natchez,  Taskigi,  or  Shawano  blood.  There  is 
some  reason  for  believing  that  the  people  living  on  Nantahala  River 
differed  dialectically  from  their  neighbors  on  either  side. 

The  Iroquoian  stock,  to  which  the  Cherokee  belong,  had  its  chief 
home  in  the  North,  its  tribes  occupying  a  compact  territory  which 
comprised  portions  of  Ontario,  New  York,  Ohio,  and  Pennsylvania, 
and  extended  down  the  Susquehanna  and  Chesapeake  Bay  almost  to 
the  latitude  of  Washington.  Another  body,  including  the  Tuscarora, 
Nottoway,  and  perhaps  also  the  Meherrin,  occupied  territory  in  north- 
eastern North  Carolina  and  the  adjacent  portion  of  Virginia.  The 
Cherokee  themselves  constituted  the  third  and  southernmost  body.  It 
is  evident  that  tribes  of  common  stock  must  at  one  time  have  occupied 
contiguous  territories,  and  such  we  find  to  be  the  case  in  this  instance. 
The  Tuscarora  and  Meherrin,  and  presumably  also  the  Nottoway,  are 
known  to  have  come  from  the  north,  while  traditional  and  historical 
evidence  concur  in  assigning  to  the  Cherokee  as  their  early  home  the 
region  about  the  headwaters  of  the  Ohio,  immediately  to  the  south- 
ward of  their  kinsmen,  but  bitter  enemies,  the  Iroquois.  The  theory 
which  brings  the  Cherokees  from  northern  Iowa  and  the  Iroquois  from 
Manitoba  is  unworthy  of  serious  consideration. 

The  most  ancient  tradition  concerning  the  Cherokee  appears  to  be 
the  Delaware  tradition  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Talligewi  from  the  North 
as  first  noted  by  the  missionary  Heckewelder  in  1819,  and  published 
more  fully  by  Brinton  in  the  Walam  Olum  in  1885.  According  to 
the  first  account,  the  Delawares,  advancing  from  the  west,  found  their 
further  progress  opposed  by  a  powerful  people  called  Alligewi  or  Tal- 
ligewi, occupying  the  country  upon  a  river  which  Heckewelder  thinks 
identical  with  the  Mississippi,  but  which  the  sequel  shows  was  more 
probably  the  Upper  Ohio.  They  were  said  to  have  regularly  built 
earthen  fortifications,  in  which  they  defended  themselves  so  well 
that  at  last  the  Delawares  were  obliged  to  seek  the  assistance  of  the 
"Mengwe,"  or  Iroquois,  with  the  result  that  after  a  warfare  extending 
over  many  years  the  Alligewi  finally  received  a  crushing  defeat,  the 
survivors  fleeing  down  the  river  and  abandoning  the  country  to  the 
invaders,  who  thereupon  parceled  it  out  amongst  themselves,  the 
"  Mengwe  "  choosing  the  portion  about  the  Great  Lakes  while  the  Dela- 
wares took  possession  of  that  to  the  south  and  east.  The  missionary 
adds  that  the  Allegheny  (and  Ohio)  River  was  still  called  by  the  Dela- 
wares the  Alligewi  Sipu,  or  river  of  the  Alligewi.  This  would  seem 
to  indicate  it  as  the  true  river  of  the  tradition.  He  speaks  also  of 
remarkable  earthworks  seen  by  him  in  1789  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Lake  Erie,  which  were  said  by  the  Indians  to  have  been  built  by  the 
extirpated  tribe  as  defensive  fortifications  in  the  course  of  this  war. 
Near  two  of  these,  in  the  vicinity  of  Sandusky,  he  was  shown  mounds 
under  which  it  was  said  some  hundreds  of  the  slain  Talligewi  were 
buried.^  As  is  usual  in  such  traditions,  the  Alligewi  were  said  to  have 
been  of  giant  stature,  far  exceeding  their  conquorers  in  size. 

In  the  Walam  Olum,  which  is,  it  is  asserted,  a  metrical  translation 
of  an  ancient  hieroglyphic  bark  record  discovered  in  1820,  the  main 
tradition  is  given  in  practically  the  same  way,  with  an  appendix 
which  follows  the  fortunes  of  the  defeated  tribe  up  to  the  beginning 
of  the  historic  period,  thus  completing  the  chain  of  evidence. 

1  Heckewelder,  John,  Indian  Nations  of  Pennsylvania,  pp.  47-49,  ed.  1876. 


S.  Doc.  677,  63-3. 


THE   CHEROKEE 
AND  THEIR  NEIGHBORS 

SHOWING  THE  TEFtRITORY  HELD 

BY  THEM  AT  VARIOUS  TIMES 
WEST  OF  THE  ^USSISS1PPI  RIVER 


JAMES  MOONEy 
1900 


Note -The  territory  of  the  cogn.ilo 
Iroquoian  tribes  is  indicated 
by  shaded  boxmdai-ies 


MAP    SHOWING   TERRITORY    HELD    BY   THE    CHEROKEES. 
(From  Nineteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology.) 


INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA.  137 

In  the  Walam  Olum  also  we  find  the  Delawares  adrancing  from  the 
west  or.  northwest  until  they  come  to  ''Fish  River" — the  same  which 
Heckewelder  makes  the  Mississippi.  On  the  other  side,  we  are 
told,  "The  Talhgewi  possessed  the  East."  The  Delaware  chief 
"desired  the  eastern  land,"  and  some  of  his  people  go  on,  but  are 
killed  by  the  Talligewi.  The  Delawares  decide  upon  war  and  call  in 
the  help  of  their  northern  friends,  the  "Talamatan,"  i.  e.,  the  Wyan- 
dot and  other  allied  Iroquoian  Tribes.  A  war  ensues  which  continues 
through  the  terms  of  four  successive  chiefs,  when  victory  declares  for 
the  invaders,  and  "all  the  Talega  go  south."  The  country  is  then 
divided,  the  Talamatan  taking  the  northern  portion,  while  the  Dela- 
wares "stay  south  of  the  lakes."  The  chronicle  proceeds  to  teU  how, 
after  eleven  more  chiefs  have  ruled,  the  Nanticoke  and  Shawano  sepa- 
rate from  the  parent  tribe  and  remove  to  the  south.  Six  other  chiefs 
follow  in  succession  until  we  come  to  the  seventh,  who  "went  to  the 
Talega  Mountains."  By  this  time  the  Delawares  have  reached  the 
ocean.  Other  chiefs  succeed,  after  whom  "the  Easterners  and  the 
Wolves" — probably  the  Mahican  or  Wappinger  and  the  Munsee — 
move  off  to  the  northeast.  At  last,  after  six  more  chiefs,  "the  whites 
came  on  the  eastern  sea,"  by  which  is  probably  meant  the  landing  of 
the  Dutch  on  Manhattan  in  1609.  We  may  consider  this  a  tally 
date,  approximating  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Two 
more  chiefs  rule,  and  of  the  second  we  are  told  that  "He  fought  at  the 
south;  he  fought  in  the  land  of  the  Talega  and  Koweta,"  and  again 
the  fourth  chief  after  the  coming  of  the  whites  "went  to  the  Talega." 
We  have  thus  a  traditional  record  of  a  war  of  conquest  carried  on 
against  the  TaUigewi  by  four  successive  chiefs,  and  a  succession  of 
about  twenty-five  chiefs  between  the  final  expulsion  of  that  tribe  and 
the  appearance  of  the  whites,  in  which  interval  the  Nanticoke,  Shaw- 
ano, Mahican,  and  Munsee  branched  off  from  the  parent  tribe  of  the 
Delawares.  Without  venturing  to  entangle  ourselves  in  the  devious 
maze  of  Indian  chronology,  it  is  sufficient  to  note  that  all  this  imphes 
a  very  long  period  of  time — so  long,  in  fact,  that  during  it  several  new 
tribes,  each  of  which  in  time  developed  a  distinct  dialect,  branch  off 
from  the  main  Lenape  stem.  It  is  distinctly  stated  that  all  the  Talega 
went  south  after  their  final  defeat;  and  from  later  references  we  find 
that  they  took  refuge  in  the  mountain  country  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Koweta  (the  Creeks),  and  that  Delaware  war  parties  were  still 
making  raids  upon  both  these  tribes  long  after  the  first  appearance  of 
the  whites. 

Although  at  first  glance  it  might  be  thought  that  the  name  TaUi- 
gewi is  but  a  corruption  of  Tsalagi,  a  closer  study  leads  to  the  opinion 
that  is  a  true  Delaware  word,  in  all  probability  connected  with  waloh 
or  walok,  signifying  a  cave  or  hole  (Zeisberger) ,  whence  we  find  in  the 
Walam  Olum  the  word  oligonunk  rendered  as  "at  the  place  of  caves." 
It  would  thus  be  an  exact  Delaware  rendering  of  the  same  name, 
"people  of  the  cave  country,"  by  which,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Chero- 
kee were  commonly  known  among  the  tribes.  YvTiatever  may  be  the 
origin  of  the  name  itself,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  as  to  its 
apphcation.  "Name,  location,  and  legends  combine  to  identify  the 
Cnerokees  or  Tsalaki  with  the  Tallike;  and  this  is  as  much  evidence  as 
we  can  expect  to  produce  in  such  researches."  ^ 

1  Brinton,  D.  G.,  Walam  Olum,  p.  231:  Phila.,  1885. 


138  INDIANS  OF  NORTH  CABOLINA. 

The  Wyandot  confirm  the  Delaware  story  and  fix  the  identification 
of  the  expelled  tribe.  According  to  their  tradition,  as  narrated  in 
1802,  the  ancient  fortifications  in  the  Ohio  Valley  had  been  erected  in 
the  course  of  a  long  war  between  themselves  and  the  Cherokee,  which 
resulted  finally  in  the  defeat  of  the  latter.^ 

The  traditions  of  the  Cherokee,  so  far  as  they  have  been  preserved, 
supplement  and  corroborate  those  of  the  northern  tribes,  thus  bring- 
ing the  story  down  to  their  final  settlement  upon  the  headwaters  of 
the  Tennessee  in  the  rich  valleys  of  the  southern  Alleghenies.  Owing 
to  the  Cherokee  predilection  for  new  gods,  contrasting  strongly  with 
the  conservatism  of  the  Iroquois,  their  ritual  forms  and  national  epics 
had  fallen  into  decay  even  before  the  Kevolution,  as  we  learn  from 
Adair.  Some  vestiges  of  their  migration  legend  still  existed  in  Hay- 
woods's  time,  but  it  is  now  completely  forgotten  both  in  the  East  and 
in  the  West. 

According  to  Haywood,  who  wrote  in  1823  on  information  obtained 
directly  from  leading  members  of  the  tribe  long  before  the  Removal, 
the  Cherokee  formerly  had  a  long  migration  legend,  which  was  already 
lost,  but  which,  within  the  memory  of  the  mother  of  one  informant — 
say  about  1750 — was  still  recited  by  chosen  orators  on  the  occasion  of 
the  annual  green-corn  dance.  This  migration  legend  appears  to  have 
resembled  that  of  the  Delawares  and  the  Creeks  in  beginning  with 
genesis  and  the  period  of  animal  monsters,  and  thence  following  the 
shifting  fortune  of  the  chosen  band  to  the  historic  period.  The  tradi- 
tion recited  that  they  had  originated  in  a  land  toward  the  rising  sun, 
where  they  had  been  placed  by  the  command  of  ''the  four  councils 
sent  from  above."  In  this  pristine  home  were  great  snakes  and  water 
monsters,  for  which  reason  it  was  supposed  to  have  been  near  the  sea- 
coast,  although  the  assumption  is  not  a  necessary  corollary,  as  these 
are  a  feature  of  the  mythology  of  all  the  eastern  tribes.  After  this 
genesis  period  there  began  a  slow  migration,  during  which  "towns  of 
people  m  many  nights'  encampment  removed,"  but  no  details  are 
given.  From  Heckewelder  it  appears  that  the  expression,  "a  night's 
encampment,"  which  occurs  also  in  the  Delaware  migration  legend, 
is  an  Indian  figure  of  speech  for  a  halt  of  one  year  at  a  place.^ 

In  another  place  Haywood  says,  although  apparently  confusing  the 
chronologic  order  of  events:  "One  tradition  which  they  have  amongst 
them  says  they  came  from  the  west  and  exterminated  the  former 
inhabitants;  and  then  says  they  came  from  the  upper  parts  of  the 
Ohio,  where  they  erected  the  mounds  on  Grave  creek,  and  that  they 
removed  thither  from  the  country  where  Monticello  (near  Charlottes- 
viQe,  Virginia)  is  situated."  '  The  first  reference  is  to  the  celebrated 
mounds  on  the  Ohio  near  MoundsviUe,  below  Wheeling,  West  Vir- 
ginia; the  other  is  doubtless  to  a  noted  burial  mound  described  by 
Jefferson  in  1781  as  then  existing  near  his  home,  on  the  low  grounds 
of  Rivanna  river  opposite  the  site  of  an  ancient  Indian  town.  He 
himseK  had  opened  it  and  found  it  to  contain  perhaps  a  thousand 
disjointed  skeletons  of  both  adults  and  children,  the  bones  piled  in 
successive  layers,  those  near  the  top  being  least  decayed.  They 
showed  no  signs  of  violence,  but  were  evidently  the  accumulation  of 
long  years  from  the  neighboring  Indian  town.     The  distinguished 

'  Schoolcraft,  H.  R.,  Notes  on  the  Iroquois,  p.  162:  Albany,  1847. 

2  Heckewelder,  Indian  Nations,  p.  47,  ed.  1876. 

'Haywood,  John,  Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,  pp.  225-226;  Nashville,  1823. 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  139 

writer  adds:  "But  on  whatever  occasion  they  may  have  been  made, 
they  are  of  considerable  notoriety  among  the  Indians:  for  a  party 
passing,  about  thirty  years  ago  (i,  e.,  about  1750),  through  the  part  of 
the  country  where  this  barrow  is,  went  through  the  woods  directly  to 
it  without  any  instructions  or  inquiry,  and  having  staid  about  it 
some  time,  with  expression  which  were  construed  to  be  those  of  sor- 
row, they  returned  to  the  high  road,  which  they  had  left  about  half 
a  dozen  miles  to  pay  this  visit,  and  pursued  their  journey."  ^  Al- 
though the  tribe  is  not  named,  the  Indians  were  probably  Cherokee, 
as  jLo  other  southern  Indians  were  then  accustomed  to  range  in  that 
section.  As  serving  to  corroborate  this  opinion  we  have  the  state- 
ment of  a  prominent  Cherokee  chief,  given  to  Schoolcraft  in  1846,  that 
according  to  their  tradition  his  people  had  formerly  hved  at  the  Peaks 
of  Otter,  in  Virginia,  a  noted  landmark  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  near  the 
point  where  Staunton  river  breaks  through  the  mountains.^ 

From  a  careful  sifting  of  the  evidence  Haywood  concludes  that  the 
authors  of  the  most  ancient  remains  in  Temiessee  had  spread  over  that 
region  from  the  south  and  southwest  at  a  very  early  period,  but  that 
the  later  occupants,  the  Cherokee,  had  entered  it  from  the  north  and 
northeast  in  comparatively  recent  times,  overrunning  and  extermi- 
nating the  aborigmes.  He  declares  that  the  historical  fact  seems  to  be 
established  that  the  Cherokee  entered  the  country  from  Virginia, 
making  temporary  settlements  upon  New  River  and  the  upper 
Holston,  until,  under  the  continued  hostile  pressure  from  the  north, 
they  were  again  forced  to  remove  farther  to  the  south,  fixing  them- 
selves upon  the  Little  Tennessee,  in  what  afterward  became  known 
as  the  middle  towns.  By  a  leading  mixed  blood  of  the  tribe  he  was 
informed  that  they  had  made  their  first  settlements  within  their 
modern  home  territory  upon  Nolichucky  River,  and  that,  having 
lived  there  for  a  long  period,  they  could  give  no  definite  account  of  an 
earlier  location.  Echota,  their  capital  and  peace  town,  ''claimed  to 
be  the  eldest  brother  in  the  nation,"  and  the  claim  was  generally 
acknowledged.^  In  confirmation  of  the  statement  as  to  an  early 
occupancy  of  the  upper  Holston  region,  it  may  be  noted  that 
"Watauga  Old  Fields,"  now  Elizabethtown,  were  so  called  from  the 
fact  that  when  the  first  white  settlement  within  the  present  State  of 
Tennessee  was  begun  there,  so  early  as  1769,  the  bottom  lands  were 
found  to  contain  graves  and  other  numerous  ancient  remains  of  a 
former  Indian  town  which  tradition  ascribed  to  the  Cherokee,  whose 
nearest  settlements  were  then  many  miles  to  the  southward. 

While  the  Cherokee  claimed  to  have  built  the  mounds  on  the  upper 
Ohio,  they  yet,  according  to  Haywood,  expressly  disclaimed  the 
authorship  of  the  very  numerous  mounds  and  petroglyphs  in  their 
later  home  territory,  asserting  that  these  ancient  works  had  exhibited 
the  same  appearance  wlien  they  themselves  had  first  occupied  the 
region.*  This  accords  with  Bartram's  statement  that  the  Cherokee, 
although  sometimes  utilizing  the  mounds  as  sites  for  their  own  town 
houses,  were  as  ignorant  as  the  whites  of  their  origin  or  purpose, 
having  only  a  general  tradition  that  their  forefathers  had  found  them 
in  much  the  same  condition  on  first  coming  into  the  country.^ 

1  TefEerson,  Thomas,  Notes  on  Virsrinia,  pp.  136-137;  ed.  Boston,  1802. 

2  Schoolcraft,  Notes  on  the  Iroquois,  p.  163,  1847. 

'  Haywood,  Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of  Tennessee,  pp.  233,  2:^6,  269,  182:3. 
<  Havwood,  Nat.  and  Aborig.  Hist.  Tennessee,  pp.  226,  23-1,  1823. 
'Baftram,  Wm.,  Travels,  p.  365;  reprint,  Londoa,  1792. 


140  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAEOLINA. 

Althougli,  as  has  been  noted,  Haywood  expresses  the  opinion  that 
the  invading  Cherokee  had  overrun  and  exterminated  the  earlier 
inhabitants,  he  says  in  another  place,  on  half-breed  authority,  that 
the  newcomers  found  no  Indians  upon  the  waters  of  the  Tennessee, 
with  the  exception  of  some  Creeks  living  upon  that  river,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Hiwassee,  the  main  body  of  that  tribe  being  established 
upon  and  claiming  all  the  streams  to  the  southward.^  There  is  con- 
siderable evidence  that  the  Creeks  preceded  the  Cherokee,  and  within 
the  last  century  they  still  claimed  the  Tennessee,  or  at  least  the 
Tennessee  watershed,  for  their  northern  boundary. 

There  is  a  dim  but  persistent  tradition  of  a  strange  white  race  pre- 
ceding the  Cherokee,  some  of  the  stories  even  going  so  far  as  to  locate 
their  former  settlements  and  to  identify  them  as  the  authors  of  the 
ancient  works  found  in  the  country.  The  earliest  reference  appears 
to  be  that  of  Barton  in  1797,  on  the  statement  of  a  gentleman  whom 
he  quotes  as  a  valuable  authority  upon  the  southern  tribes.  "The 
Cheerake  tell  us,  that  when  they  first  arrived  in  the  country  which 
they  inhabit,  they  found  it  possessed  by  certain  'moon-eyed  people,' 
who  could  not  see  in  the  daytime.  These  wretches  they  expelled." 
He  seems  to  consider  them  an  albino  race.^  Haywood,  twenty-six 
years  later,  says  that  the  invading  Cherokee  found  "white  people" 
near  the  head  of  the  Little  Tennessee,  with  forts  extending  thence 
down  the  Tennessee  as  far  as  Chickamauga  Creek.  He  gives  the 
location  of  three  of  these  forts.  The  Cherokee  made  war  against  them 
and  drove  them  to  the  mouth  of  Big  Chickamauga  Creek,  where  they 
entered  into  a  treaty  and  agreed  to  remove  if  permitted  to  depart  in 
peace.  Permission  being  granted,  they  abandoned  the  country. 
Elsewhere  he  speaks  of  this  extirpated  white  race  as  having  extended 
into  Kentucky  and  probably  also  into  western  Tennessee,  according 
to  the  concurrent  traditions  of  different  tribes.  He  describes  their 
houses,  on  what  authority  is  not  stated,  as  having  been  small  circular 
structures  of  upright  logs,  covered  with  earth  which  had  been  dug 
out  from  the  inside.^ 

Harry  Smith,  a  half-breed  born  about  1815,  father  of  the  late  chief 
of  the  East  Cherokee,  informed  the  author  that  when  a  boy  he  had 
been  told  by  an  old  woman  a  tradition  of  a  race  of  very  small  people, 
perfectly  white,  who  once  came  and  lived  for  some  time  on  the  site  of 
the  ancient  mound  on  the  northern  side  of  Hiwassee,  at  the  mouth  of 
Peachtree  Creek,  a  few  miles  above  the  present  Murphy,  North  Caro- 
lina. They  afterward  removed  to  the  West.  Colonel  Thomas,  the 
white  chief  of  the  East  Cherokee,  born  about  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  had  also  heard  a  tradition  of  another  race  of  people,  who 
lived  on  Hiwassee,  opposite  the  present  Murphy,  and  warned  the 
Cherokee  that  they  must  not  attempt  to  cross  over  to  the  south  side 
of  the  river  or  the  great  leech  in  the  water  would  swallow  them.* 
They  finally  went  west,  "long  before  the  whites  came."  The  two 
stories  are  plainly  the  same,  although  told  independently  and  many 
miles  apart. 

>  Haywood,  op.  cit.,  pp.  2.34-237. 

s  Barton,  New  Views,  p.  xliv,  1797. 

•  Haywood,  Nat.  and  Aborig.  Hist.  Tennessee,  pp.  166,  234-235,  287-289,  1823. 

'See  story,  "The  Great  Leech  of  Tlanusi'yl,"  p.  328. 


INDIANS   OF   NOETH  CAROLINA.  141 

THE   PERIOD   OF   SPANISH  EXPLORATION — 15  40-? 

The  definite  history  of  the  Cherokee  begins  with  the  year  1540,  at 
which  date  we  find  them  aheady  established,  where  they  were  always 
afterward  known,  in  the  mountains  of  Carolina  and  Georgia.  The 
earliest  Spanish  adventurers  failed  to  penetrate  so  far  into  the  interior, 
and  the  first  entry  into  their  country  was  made  by  De  Soto,  advancing 
up  the  Savannah  on  his  fruitless  quest  for  gold,  in  May  of  that  year. 

While  at  Cofitachiqui,  an  important  Indian  town  on  the  lower 
Savannah  governed  by  a  "  queen, '^  the  Spaniards  had  found  hatchets 
and  other  objects  of  copper,  some  of  wnich  was  of  finer  color  and 
appeared  to  be  mixed  with  gold,  although  they  had  no  means  of  testing 
it.^  On  inquiry  they  were  told  that  the  metal  had  come  from  an 
interior  mountain  province  called  Chisca,  but  the  country  was  repre- 
sented as  thinly  peopled  and  the  way  as  impassable  for  horses.  Some 
time  before,  while  advancing  through  eastern  Georgia,  they  had 
heard  also  of  a  rich  and  plentiful  province  called  Coca,  toward  the 
northwest,  and  by  the  people  of  Cofitachiqui  they  were  now  told  that 
Chiaha,  the  nearest  town  of  Coca  province,  was  twelve  days  inland. 
As  both  men  and  animals  were  already  nearly  exhausted  from  hunger 
and  hard  travel,  and  the  Indians  either  could  not  or  would  not  furnish 
sufficient  provision  for  their  needs,  De  Soto  determined  not  to  attempt 
the  passage  of  the  mountains  then,  but  to  push  on  at  once  to  Coca, 
there  to  rest  and  recuperate  before  undertaking  further  exploration. 
In  the  meantime  he  hoped  also  to  obtain  more  definite  information 
concerning  the  mines.  As  the  chief  purpose  of  the  expedition  was  the 
discovery  of  the  mines,  many  of  the  officers  regarded  this  change  of 
plan  as  a  mistake,  and  favored  staying  where  they  were  until  the  new 
crop  should  be  ripened,  then  go  directly  into  the  mountains,  but  as 
the  general  was  "a  stern  man  and  of  few  words,"  none  ventured  to 
oppose  his  resolution.^  The  province  of  Coca  was  the  territory  of  the 
Creek  Indians,  called  Ani'-Kusa  by  the  Cherokee,  from  Kusa,  or 
Coosa,  their  ancient  capital,  while  Chiaha  was  identical  with  Chehaw, 
one  of  the  principal  Creek  towns  on  Chattahoochee  River.  Cofitachi- 
qui may  have  been  the  capital  of  the  Uchee  Indians. 

The  outrageous  conduct  of  the  Spaniards  had  so  angered  the  Indian 
queen  that  she  now  refused  to  furnish  guides  and  carriers,  whereupon 
De  Soto  made  her  a  prisoner,  with  the  design  of  compelling  her  to  act 
as  guide  herself,  and  at  the  same  time  to  use  her  as  a  hostage  to  com- 
mand the  obedience  of  her  subjects.  Instead,  however,  of  conduct- 
ing the  Spaniards  by  the  direct  trail  toward  the  west,  she  led  them  far 
out  of  their  course  until  she  finally  managed  to  make  her  escape, 
leaving  them  to  find  their  way  out  of  the  mountains  as  best  they 
could. 

Departing  from  Cofitachiqui,  they  turned  first  toward  the  north, 
passing  through  several  towns  subject  to  the  queen,  to  whom,  al- 
though a  prisoner,  the  Indians  everywhere  showed  great  respect  and 
obedience,  furnishing  whatever  assistance  the  Spaniards  comiDelled 
her  to  demand  for  their  own  purposes.  In  a  few  days  they  came  to 
''a  province  called  Chalaque,"  the  territory  of  the  Cherokee  Indians, 
probably  upon  the  waters  of  Keowee  River,  the  eastern  head  stream 
of  the  Savannah.     It  is  described  as  the  poorest  country  for  corn  that 

'  Garcilaso  de  la  V«ga,  La  Florida  del  Inca,  pp.  129,  133-134;  Madrid,  1723. 

*  Gentleman  of  Elvas,  Publications  of  the  Hakluyt  Society,  ts,  pp.  52,  58,  64;  London,  1851. 


142  INDIANS   OF    NORTH    CAROLINA. 

tliey  had  yet  seen,  the  inhabitants  subsisting  on  wUd  roots  and 
herbs  and  on  game  which  they  killed  with  bows  and  arrows.  They 
were  naked,  lean,  and  unwarlike.  The  country  abounded  in  wild 
turkeys  ("gallinas"),  which  the  people  gave  very  freely  to  the 
strangers,  one  town  presenting  them  with  seven  hundred.  A  chief 
also  gave  De  Soto  two  deerskins  as  a  great  present.^  Garcilaso,  writ- 
ing on  the  authority  of  an  old  soldier  nearly  fifty  years  afterward, 
says  that  the  "Chalaques"  deserted  their  towns  on  the  approach  of 
the  white  men  and  fled  to  the  mountains,  leaving  behind  only  old 
men  and  women  and  some  who  were  nearly  blind.^  Although  it  was 
too  early  for  the  new  crop,  the  poverty  of  the  people  may  have  been 
more  apparent  than  real,  due  to  their  unwillingness  to  give  any  part 
of  their  stored-up  provision  to  the  unwelcome  strangers.  As  the 
Spaniards  were  greatly  in  need  of  corn  for  themselves  and  their 
horses,  they  made  no  stay,  but  hurried  on.  In  a  few  days  they  ar- 
rived at  Guaquili,  which  is  mentioned  only  by  Ranjel,  who  does  not 
specify  whether  it  was  a  town  or  a  province — i.  e.,  a  tribal  territory. 
It  was  probably  a  small  town.  Here  they  were  welcomed  in  a  friendly 
manner,  the  Indians  giving  them  a  little  corn  and  many  wUd  turkeys, 
together  with  some  dogs  of  a  peculiar  small  species,  which  were  bred 
for  eating  purposes  and  did  not  bark.^  They  were  also  supplied  with 
men  to  help  carry  the  baggage.  The  name  Guaquili  has  a  Cherokee 
sound  and  may  be  connected  with  wa'gull',  "  whippoorwill,"  uwa' 
gi%,  ''foam,''  or  gi'U,  "dog." 

Traveling  still  toward  the  north,  they  arrived  a  day  or  two  later  in 
the  province  of  Xuala,  in  which  we  recognize  the  territory  of  the 
Suwali,  Sara,  or  Cheraw  Indians,  in  the  piedmont  region  about  the 
head  of  Broad  River  in  North  Carolina.  Garcilaso,  who  did  not  see  it, 
represents  it  as  a  rich  country,  while  the  Elvas  narrative  and  Biedma 
agree  that  it  was  a  rough,  broken  country,  thinly  inhabited  and  poor 
in  provision.  According  to  Garcilaso,  it  was  under  the  rule  oi  the 
queen  of  Cofitachiqui,  although  a  distinct  province  in  itself.*  The 
principal  town  was  beside  a  small  rapid  stream,  close  under  a  moun- 
tain. The  chief  received  them  in  friendly  fashion,  giving  them  corn, 
dogs  of  the  small  breed  already  mentioned,  carrying  baskets,  and  bur- 
den bearers.  The  country  roundabout  showed  greater  indications  of 
gold  mines  than  any  they  had  yet  seen.^ 

Here  De  Soto  turned  to  the  west,  crossing  a  very  high  mountain 
range,  which  appears  to  have  been  the  Blue  Ridge,  and  descending  on 
the  other  side  to  a  stream  flowing  in  the  opposite  direction,  which 
was  probably  one  of  the  upper  tributaries  of  the  French  Broad.^ 
Although  it  was  late  in  May,  they  found  it  very  cold  in  the  moun- 
tains.® After  several  days  of  such  travel  they  arrived,  about  the  end 
of  the  month,  at  the  town  of  GuasHi,  or  Guaxule.  The  chief  and 
principal  men  came  out  some  distance  to  welcome  them,  dressed  in 
fine  robes  of  skins,  with  feather  head  dresses,  after  the  fashion  of  the 
country.  Before  reaching  this  point  the  queen  had  managed  to  make 
her  escape,  together  with  three  slaves  of  the  Spaniards,  and  the  last 
that  was  heard  of  her  was  that  she  was  on  her  way  back  to  her  own 

1  Gentleman  of  Elvas,  Publications  of  the  Hakluyt  Society,  IX,  p.  60,  London,  1851. 

s  Garcilaso,  La  Florida  del  Inca,  p.  136,  ed.  1723. 

«  Ranjel,  ui  Oviedo,  Historia  General  y  Natural  de  las  Indias,  i,  p.  662;  Madrid,  1851. 

<  Garcilaso,  La  Florida  del  Inca,  p.  137, 1723. 

'  See  note  8,  De  Soto's  route. 

« Ranjel,  op.  cit.,  i,  p.  562. 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA.  143 

country  witli  one  of  the  runaways  as  lier  husband.  What  grieved 
De  Soto  most  in  the  matter  was  that  she  took  with  her  a  small  box  of 
pearls,  which  he  had  intended  to  take  from  her  before  releasing  her, 
but  had  left  with  her  for  the  present  in  order  "not  to  discontent 
her  altogether."  ^ 

Guaxule  is  described  as  a  very  large  town  surrounded  by  a  number 
of  small  mountain  streams  which  united  to  form  the  large  river  down 
which  the  Spaniards  proceeded  after  leaving  the  place.^  Here,  as 
elsewhere,  the  Indians  received  the  white  men  with  kindness  and  hos- 
pitality— so  much  so  that  the  name  of  Guaxule  became  to  the  army  a 
synonym  for  good  fortune.'  Among  other  things  they  gave  the  Span- 
iards 300  dogs  for  food,  although,  according  to  the  Elvas  narrative, 
the  Indians  themselves  did  not  eat  them.*  The  principal  officers  of 
the  expedition  were  lodged  in  the  "chiefs  house,"  by  which  we  are  to 
understand  the  to^^mhouse,  which  was  upon  a  high  hill  with  a  roadway 
to  the  top.^  From  a  close  study  of  the  narrative  it  appears  that  this 
"hill"  was  no  other  than  the  great  Nacoochee  mound,  in  White 
county,  Georgia,  a  few  miles  northwest  of  the  present  Clarkesville.^ 
It  was  -within  the  Cherokee  territory,  and  the  town  was  probably  a 
settlement  of  that  tribe.  From  here  De  Soto  sent  runners  ahead  to 
notify  the  chief  of  Chiaha  of  his  approach,  in  order  that  sufficient  corn 
might  be  ready  on  his  arrival. 

Leaving  Guaxule,  they  proceeded  down  the  river,  which  we  identify 
with  the  Chattahoochee,  and  in  two  days  arrived  at  Canasoga,  or 
Canasagua,  a  frontier  town  of  the  Cherokee.  As  they  neared  the  town 
they  were  met  by  the  Indians,  bearing  baskets  of  '  'mulberries, "  ^  more 
probably  the  delicious  service  berry  of  the  southern  mountains,  which 
ripens  in  the  early  summer,  while  the  mulberry  matures  later. 

From  here  they  continued  down  the  river,  which  grew  constantly 
larger,  through  an  uninhabited  country  which  formed  the  disputed 
territory  between  the  Cherokee  and  the  Creeks.  About  five  days  after 
leaving  Canasagua  they  were  met  by  messengers,  who  escorted  them 
to  Chiaha,  the  first  town  of  the  province  of  Copa.  De  Soto  had  crossed 
the  State  of  Georgia,  leavmg  the  Cherokee  country  behind  him,  and 
was  now  among  the  Lower  Creeks,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  present 
Columbus,  Georgia.  With  his  subsequent  wanderings  after  crossing 
the  Chattahoochee  into  Alabama  and  beyond  we  need  not  concern 
ourselves. 

While  resting  at  Chiaha  De  Soto  met  with  a  chief  who  confirmed 
what  the  Spaniards  had  heard  before  concerning  mines  in  the  province 
of  Chisca,  saying  that  there  was  there  "a  melting  of  copper"  and  of 
another  metal  of  about  the  same  color,  but  softer,  and  therefore  not  so 
much  used.^  The  province  was  northward  from  Chiaha,  somewhere  in 
upper  Georgia  or  the  adjacent  part  of  Alabama  or  Tennessee,  through 
all  of  which  mountain  region  native  copper  is  found.  The  other 
mineral,  which  the  Spaniards  understood  to  be  gold,  may  have  been 
iron  p3nrites,  although  there  is  some  evidence  that  the  Indians  occa- 
sionally found  and  shaped  gold  nuggets. 

1  Elvas,  Hakluyt  Society,  ix,  p.  61,  1851. 

2  Garcilaso,  op.  cit.,  p.  139. 

8  Ranjel,  lq  Oviedo,  Historia,  i,  p.  563,  1851. 

<  Elvas,  Biedma,  and  Ranjel,  aU  make  special  references  to  the  dogs  given  them  at  this  place;  they  seem 
to  have  been  of  the  same  small  breed  ("perrillos")  which  Ranjel  says  the  Indians  used  for  food. 
'  Garcilaso,  La  Florida  del  Inca,  p.  139, 1723. 
«  See  note  8,  De  Soto's  route. 

'  See  Elvas,  Hakluyt  Society,  ix,  p.  61, 1851;  and  Ranjel,  op.  cit.,  p.  563. 
•  Elvas,  op.  cit.,  p.  64. 


144  INDIANS   OP    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Accordingly  two  soldiers  were  sent  on  foot  with  Indian  guides  to 
find  Chisca  and  learn  the  truth  of  the  stories.  They  rejoined  the  army 
some  time  after  the  march  had  been  resumed,  and  reported  according 
to  the  Elvas  chronicler,  that  their  guides  had  taken  them  through  a 
country  so  poor  in  corn,  so  rough,  and  over  so  high  mountains  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  the  army  to  follow;  wherefore,  as  the  way 
grew  long  and  Ungering,  they  had  turned  back  after  reaching  a  little 
poor  town  where  they  saw  nothing  that  was  of  any  profit.  They 
brought  back  with  them  a  dressed  buffalo  skin  which  the  Indians  there 
had  given  them,  the  first  ever  obtained  by  white  men,  and  described  in 
the  quaint  old  chronicle  as  ''  an  ox  hide  as  thin  as  a  calf's  skin,  and  the 
hair  hke  a  soft  wool  between  the  coarse  and  fine  wool  of  sheep."  ^ 

Garcilaso's  glowing  narrative  gives  a  somewhat  different  impression. 
According  to  this  author  the  scouts  returned  full  of  enthusiasm  for 
the  fertihty  of  the  country,  and  reported  that  the  mines  were  of  a  fine 
species  of  copper,  and  had  indications  also  of  gold  and  silver,  while 
their  progress  from  one  town  to  another  had  been  a  continual  series  of 
feastings  and  Indian  hospitalities.^  However  that  may  have  been, 
De  Soto  made  no  further  effort  to  reach  the  Cherokee  mines,  but  con- 
tinued his  course  westward  through  the  Creek  country,  having  spent 
altogether  a  month  in  the  mountain  region. 

There  is  no  record  of  any  second  attempt  to  penetrate  the  Cherokee 
country  for  twenty-six  years.  In  1561  the  Spaniards  took  formal 
possession  of  the  Bay  of  Santa  Elena,  now  Saint  Helena,  near  Port 
Royal,  on  the  coast  of  South  Carohna.  The  next  year  the  French 
made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  at  settlement  at  the  same  place,  and  in 
1566  Menendez  made  the  Spanish  occupancy  sure  by  establishing 
there  a  fort  which  he  called  San  Fehpe.^  In  November  of  that  year 
Captain  Juan  Pardo  was  sent  with  a  party  from  the  fort  to  explore  the 
interior.  Accompanied  by  the  chief  of  '' Juada"  (which  from  Vande- 
ra's  narrative  we  find  should  be  "Joara,"  i.  e.,  the  Sara  Indians 
already  mentioned  in  the  De  Soto  chronicle),  he  proceeded  as  far  as 
the  territory  of  that  tribe,  where  he  built  a  fort,  but  on  account  of  the 
snow  in  the  mountains  did  not  think  it  advisable  to  go  farther,  and 
returned,  leaving  a  sergeant  with  thirty  soldiers  to  garrison  the  post. 
Soon  after  his  return  he  received  a  letter  from  the  sergeant  stating 
that  the  chief  of  Chisca — the  rich  mining  country  of  which  De  Soto 
had  heard — was  very  hostile  to  the  Spaniards,  and  that  in  a  recent 
battle  the  latter  had  killed  a  thousand  of  his  Indians  and  burned  fifty 
houses  with  almost  no  damage  to  themselves.  Either  the  sergeant 
or  his  chronicler  must  have  been  an  unconscionable  Har,  as  it  was 
asserted  that  all  this  was  done  with  only  fifteen  men.  Immediately 
afterward,  according  to  the  same  story,  the  sergeant  marched  with 
twenty  men  about  a  day's  distance  in  the  mountains  against  another 
hostile  chief,  whom  he  found  in  a  strongly  paHsaded  town,  which, 
after  a  hard  fight,  he  and  his  men  stormed  and  burned,  killing  fifteen 
hundred  Indians  without  losing  a  single  man  themselves.  Under 
instructions  from  his  superior  officer,  the  sergeant  with  his  small 
party  then  proceeded  to  explore  what  lay  beyond,  and,  taking  a  road 
which  they  were  told  led  to  the  territory  of  a  great  chief,  after  four 

>  Elvas,  Hakluyt  Society,  ix,  p.  66, 1851. 

2  Garcilaso,  La  Florida  del  Inca,  p.  141,  ed.  1723. 

*  Shea,  J.  G.,  in  Winsor,  Justin,  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,  n,  pp.  260,  278:  Boston,  1886. 


INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA.  145 

days  of  hard  marching  they  came  to  his  town,  called  Chiaha  (Chicha, 
by  mistake  in  the  manuscript  translation),  the  same  where  De  Soto 
had  rested.  It  is  described  at  this  time  as  paUsaded  and  strongly 
fortified,  with  a  deep  river  on  each  side,  and  defended  by  over  three 
thousand  fighting  men,  there  being  no  women  or  children  among 
them.  It  is  possible  that  in  view  of  their  former  experience  with  the 
Spaniards,  the  Indians  had  sent  their  famiUes  away  from  the  town, 
while  at  the  same  time  they  may  have  summoned  warriors  from  the 
neighboring  Creek  towns  in  order  to  be  prepared  for  any  emergency 
However,  as  before,  they  received  the  white  men  with  the  greatest 
kindness,  and  the  Spaniards  continued  for  twelve  days  through  the 
territories  of  the  same  tribe  until  they  arrived  at  the  principal  town 
(Kusa  ?) ,  where,  by  the  invitation  of  the  chief,  they  built  a  small  fort 
and  awaited  the  coming  of  Pardo,  who  was  expected  to  follow  with  a 
larger  force  from  Santa  Elena,  as  he  did  in  the  summer  of  1567,  being 
met  on  his  arrival  with  every  show  of  hospitahty  from  the  Creek 
chiefs.  This  second  fort  was  said  to  be  one  hundred  and  forty  leagues 
distant  from  that  in  the  Sara  country,  which  latter  was  called  one 
hundred  and  twenty  leagues  from  Santa  Elena. ^ 

In  the  summer  of  1567,  according  to  previous  agreement.  Captain 
Pardo  left  the  fort  at  Santa  Elena  with  a  small  detachment  of  troops, 
and  after  a  week's  travel,  sleeping  each  night  at  a  different  Indian 
town,  arrived  at  ''Canos,  which  the  Indians  call  Canosi,  and  by  an- 
other name,  Cofeta^que"  (the  Cofitachiqui  of  the  De  Soto  chronicle), 
which  is  described  as  situated  in  a  favorable  location  for  a  large  city, 
fifty  leagues  from  Santa  Elena,  to  which  the  easiest  road  was  by  a 
river  (the  Savannah)  which  flowed  by  the  town,  or  by  another  which 
they  had  passed  ten  leagues  farther  back.  Proceeding,  they  passed 
Jagaya,  Gueza,  and  Arauchi,  and  arrived  at  Otariyatiqui,  or  Otari, 
in  which  we  have  perhaps  the  Cherokee  a' tan  or  d'dtm,  "mountain." 
It  may  have  been  a  frontier  Cherokee  settlement,  and,  according  to 
the  old  chronicler,  its  chief  and  language  ruled  much  good  country. 
From  here  a  trail  went  northward  to  Guatari,  Sauxpa,  and  Usi,  i.  e., 
the  Wateree,  Waxhaw  (or  Sissipahaw?),  and  Ushery  or  Catawba. 

Leaving  Otariyatiqui,  they  went  on  to  Quinahaqui,  and  then,  turn- 
ing to  the  left,  to  Issa,  where  they  found  mines  of  crystal  (mica?). 
They  came  next  to  Aguaquiri  (the  GuaquiU  of  the  De  Soto  chronicle), 
and  then  to  Joara,  ''near  to  the  mountain,  where  Juan  Pardo  arrived 
with  his  sergeant  on  his  first  trip."  This,  as  has  been  noted,  was  the 
Xuala  of  the  De  Soto  chronicle,  the  territory  of  the  Sara  Indians,  in 
the  foothills  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  southeast  from  the  present  Asheville, 
North  Carolina.  Vandera  makes  it  one  hundred  leagues  from  Santa 
Elena,  while  Martinez,  already  quoted,  makes  the  distance  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  leagues  The  difference  is  not  important,  as  both 
statements  were  only  estimates.  From  there  they  followed  "along 
the  mountains"  to  Tocax  (Toxaway?),  Cauchi  (Nacoochee?),  and 
Tanasqui — apparently  Cherokee  towns,  although  the  forms  can  not 
be  identified — and  after  resting  three  days  at  the  last-named  place 
went  on  "to  Solameco,  otherwise  called  Chiaha,"  where  the  sergeant 
met  them.  The  combined  forces  afterward  went  on,  through  Cossa 
(Kusa),  Tasquiqui  (Taskigi),  and  other  Creek  towns,  as  far  as  Tasca- 

1  Narrative  of  Pardo's  expedition  by  Martinez,  about  1568,  Brooks  manuscripts. 
75321°— S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 10 


146  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

luza,  in  the  Alabama  country,  and  returned  thence  to  Santa  Elena, 
ha^'ing  apparently  met  with  a  friendly  reception  everywhere  along 
the  route.  From  Cofitachiqui  to  Tascaluza  they  went  over  about  the 
same  road  traversed  by  De  Soto  in  1540.^ 

We  come  now  to  a  great  gap  of  nearly  a  century.  Shea  has  a  notice 
of  a  Spanish  mission  founded  among  the  Cherokee  in  1643  and  still 
flourishing  when  visited  by  an  English  traveler  ten  years  later ,2  but  as 
his  information  is  derived  entirely  from  the  fraudulent  work  of 
Davies,  and  as  no  such  mission  is  mentioned  by  Barcia  in  any  of  these 
years,  we  may  regard  the  story  as  spurious.  The  first  mission 
work  in  the  tribe  appears  to  have  been  that  of  Priber,  almost  a  hun- 
dred years  later.  Long  before  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
however,  the  existence  of  mines  of  gold  and  other  metals  in  the  Chero- 
kee country  was  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  among  the  Span- 
iards at  St.  Augustine  and  Santa  Elena,  and  more  than  one  expedition 
had  been  fitted  out  to  explore  the  interior.'  Numerous  traces  of 
ancient  mining  operations,  with  remains  of  old  shafts  and  fortifica- 
tions, evidently  of  European  origin,  show  that  these  discoveries  were 
followed  up,  although  the  policy  of  Spain  concealed  the  fact  from  the 
outside  world.  How  much  permanent  impression  this  early  Spanish 
intercourse  made  on  the  Cherokee  it  is  impossible  to  estimate,  but  it 
must  have  been  considerable. 

THE   COLONIAL   AND  REVOLUTIONARY   PERIOD — 1654-1784. 

It  was  not  until  1654  that  the  English  first  came  into  contact  with 
the  Cherokee,  called  in  the  records  of  the  period  Rechahecrians,  a  cor- 
ruption of  Rickahockan,  apparently  the  name  by  which  they  were 
known  to  the  Powhatan  tribes.  In  that  year  the  Virginia  colony, 
which  had  only  recently  concluded  a  long  and  exterminating  war  with 
the  Powhatan,  was  thrown  into  alarm  by  the  news  that  a  great  body 
of  six  or  seven  hundred  Rechahecrian  Indians — by  which  is  probably 
meant  that  number  of  warriors — from  the  mountains  had  invaded  the 
lower  country  and  estabhshed  themselves  at  the  falls  of  James  River, 
where  now  is  the  city  of  Richmond.  The  assembly  at  once  passed 
resolutions  "  that  these  new  come  Indians  be  in  no  sort  suffered  to  seat 
themselves  there,  or  any  place  near  us,  it  having  cost  so  much  blood 
to  expel  and  extirpate  those  perfidious  and  treacherous  Indians  which 
were  there  formerly."  It  was  therefore  ordered  that  a  force  of  at  least 
100  white  men  be  at  once  sent  against  them,  to  be  joined  by  the  war- 
riors of  all  the  neighboring  subject  tribes,  according  to  treaty  obliga- 
tion. The  Pamunkey  chief,  with  a  hundred  of  his  men,  responded  to 
the  summons,  and  the  combined  force  marched  against  the  invaders. 
The  result  was  a  bloody  battle,  with  disastrous  outcome  to  the  Vir- 
ginians, the  Pamunkey  chief  with  most  of  his  men  being  lalled,  w^hile 
the  whites  were  forced  to  make  such  terms  of  peace  with  the  Recha- 
hecrians  that  the  assembly  cashiered  the  commander  of  the  expedition 
and  compelled  him  to  pay  the  whole  cost  of  the  treaty  from  his  own 
estate.*  Owing  to  the  imperfection  of  the  Virginia  records  we  have 
no  means  of  knowing  the  causes  of  the  sudden  invasion  or  how  long 
the  invaders  retained  their  position  at  the  falls.     In  all  probabihty  it 

1  Vandera  narrative,  1569,  in  French,  B.  F.,  Hist.  Colls,  of  La.  new  series,  pp.  289-292;  New  York,  1875. 

2  Shea,  J.  G.,  Catholic  Missions,  p.  72;  New  York,  1855. 

3  See  Brooks  manuscripts  in  the  archives  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology. 
<  Burk,  John,  History  of  Virginia,  n,  pp.  104-107;  Petersburg,  1805, 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CABOLINA.  147 

was  only  the  last  of  a  long  series  of  otherwise  unrecorded  irruptions 
by  the  mountaineers  on  the  more  peaceful  dwellers  in  the  lowlands. 
From  a  remark  in  Lederer  it  is  probable  that  the  Cherokee  were  assisted 
also  by  some  of  the  piedmont  tribes  hostile  to  the  Powhatan.  The 
Peaks  of  Otter,  near  which  the  Cherokee  claim  to  have  once  lived,  as 
has  been  already  noted,  are  only  about  one  hundred  miles  in  a  straight 
line  from  Richmond,  while  the  burial  mound  and  to-svn  site  near 
Charlottesville,  mentioned  by  Jefferson,  are  but  half  that  distance. 

In  1655  a  Virginia  expedition  sent  out  from  the  falls  of  James  River 
(Richmond)  crossed  over  the  mountains  to  the  large  streams  flowing 
into  the  Mississippi.  No  details  are  given  and  the  route  is  uncertain, 
but  whether  or  not  they  met  Indians,  they  must  have  passed  through 
Cherokee  territory.^ 

In  1670  the  German  traveler,  John  Lederer,  went  from  the  falls  of 
James  River  to  the  Catawba  country,  in  South  Carohna,  following  for 
most  of  the  distance  the  path  used  by  the  Virginia  traders,  who  already 
had  regular  deahngs  with  the  southern  tribes,  including  probably  the 
Cherokee.  He  speaks  in  several  places  of  the  Rickahockan,  which 
seems  to  be  a  more  correct  form  than  Rechahecrian,  and  his  narrative 
and  the  accompanying  map  put  them  in  the  mountains  of  North  Caro- 
lina, back  of  the  Catawba  and  the  Sara  and  southward  from  the  head 
of  Roanoke  River.  They  were  apparently  on  hostile  terms  with  the 
tribes  to  the  eastward,  and  while  the  traveler  was  stopping  at  an  In- 
dian village  on  Dan  River,  about  the  present  Clarksville,  Virginia,  a 
delegation  of  Rickahockan,  which  had  come  on  tribal  business,  was  bar- 
barously murdered  at  a  dance  prepared  on  the  night  of  their  arrival  by 
their  treacherous  hosts.  On  reaching  the  Catawba  country  he  heard 
of  white  men  to  the  southward,  and  incidentally  mentions  that  the 
neighboring  mountains  were  called  the  Suala  Mountains  by  the  Span- 
iards.2  In  the  next  year,  1671,  a  party  from  Virginia  under  Thomas 
Batts  explored  the  northern  branch  of  Roanoke  River  and  crossed 
over  the  Blue  Ridge  to  the  headwaters  of  New  River,  where  they  found 
traces  of  occupancy,  but  no  Indians.  By  this  time  all  the  tribes  of 
this  section,  east  of  the  mountains,  were  in  possession  of  firearms.^ 

The  first  permanent  English  settlement  in  South  Carolina  was 
estabhshed  in  1670.  In  1690  James  Moore,  secretary  of  the  colony, 
made  an  exploring  expedition  into  the  mountains  and  reached  a  point 
at  which,  according  to  his  Indian  guides,  he  was  within  twenty  miles 
of  where  the  Spaniards  were  engaged  in  mining  and  smelting  with 
bellows  and  furnaces;  but  on  account  of  some  misunderstanding  he 
returned  without  visiting  the  place,  although  he  procured  specimens 
of  ores,  which  he  sent  to  England  for  assay.*  It  may  have  been  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  present  Lincolnton,  North  Carohna,  where  a  dam 
of  cut  stone  and  other  remains  of  former  civilized  occupancy  have  re- 
cently been  discovered.  In  this  year,  also,  Cornelius  Dougherty, 
an  Irishman  from  Virginia,  established  himself  as  the  first  trader 
among  the  Cherokee,  with  whom  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life.^  Some 
of  his  descendants  still  occupy  honored  positions  in  the  tribe. 

1  Ramsey,  J.  G.  M.,  Annals  of  Tennessee,  p.  37;  Charleston.  1853  (quoting  Martin,  North  Carolina,  r, 
p.  115,  1853). 

2  Lederer,  John,  Discoveries,  pp.  15,  26,  27,  29,  33,  and  map;  reprint,  Charleston,  1891;  Mooney,  Siouan 
Tribes  of  the  East  (bulletin  of  Bureau  of  Ethnology),  pp.  53-54,  1894. 

3  Mooney,  op.  cit.,  pp.  34-35. 

*  Docunient  of  1699,  quoted  ia  South  Carolina  Hist.  Soc.  Colls.,  I,  p.  209;  Charleston,  1857. 
'  Haywood,  Nat.  and  Aborig.  Hist.  Tennessee,  p.  233,  1823. 


148  INDIANS   OF    NOETH   CAEOLINA. 

Among  the  manuscript  archives  of  South  Carolina  there  was  said  to 
be,  some  50  years  ago,  a  treaty  or  agreement  made  with  the  govern- 
ment of  that  colony  by  the  Cherokee  in  1684,  and  signed  with  the 
hieroglyphics  of  eight  chiefs  of  the  lower  towns,  viz,  Corani,  the 
Raven  (Ka'lanti);  Sinnawa,  the  Hawk  (Tla'nuwa);  Nellawgitehi, 
Gorhaleke,  and  Owasta,  all  of  Toxawa;  and  Canacaught,  the  great 
Conjuror,  Gohoma,  and  Caunasaita,  of  Keowa.  If  still  in  existence, 
this  is  probably  the  oldest  Cherokee  treaty  on  record.^ 

What  seems  to  be  the  next  mention  of  the  Cherokee  in  the  South 
Carohna  records  occurs  in  1691,  when  we  find  an  inquiry  ordered  in 
regard  to  a  report  that  some  of  the  colonists  "have,  without  any 
proclamation  of  war,  fallen  upon  and  murdered"  several  of  that  tribe.* 

In  1 693  some  Cherokee  chiefs  went  to  Charleston  with  presents  for 
the  governor  and  offers  of  friendship,  to  ask  the  protection  of  South 
Carolina  against  their  enemies,  the  Esaw  (Catawba),  Savanna 
(Shawano),  and  Congaree,  aU  of  that  colony,  who  had  made  war  upon 
them  and  sold  a  number  of  their  tribesmen  into  slavery.  They  were 
told  that  their  kinsmen  could  not  now  be  recovered,  but  that  the 
English  desired  friendship  with  their  tribe,  and  that  the  Government 
would  see  that  there  would  be  no  future  ground  for  such  complaint.' 
The  promise  was  apparently  not  kept,  for  in  1705  we  find  a  bitter 
accusation  brought  against  Governor  Moore,  of  South  Carolina,  that 
ho  had  granted  commissions  to  a  number  of  persons  "to  set  upon, 
assault,  kill,  destroy,  and  take  captive  as  many  Indians  as  they  pos- 
sible [sic]  could,"  the  prisoners  being  sold  into  slavery  for  his  and  their 
private  profit.  By  this  course,  it  was  asserted,  he  had  "already 
almost  utterly  ruined  the  trade  for  skins  and  furs,  whereby  we  held 
our  chief  correspondence  with  England,  and  turned  it  mto  a  trade  of 
Indians  or  slave  making,  whereby  the  Indians  to  the  south  and  west 
of  us  are  already  involved  in  blood  and  confusion."  The  arraign- 
ment concludes  with  a  warning  that  such  conditions  would  in  all 
probabiUty  draw  down  upon  the  colony  an  Indian  war  with  aU  its 
dreadful  consequences.*  In  view  of  what  happened  a  few  years  later 
this  reads  like  a  prophecy. 

About  the  year  1700  the  first  guns  were  introduced  among  the 
Cherokee,  the  event  being  fixed  traditionally  as  having  occurred  in 
the  girlhood  of  an  old  woman  of  the  tribe  who  died  about  1775.^  In 
1708  we  find  them  described  as  a  numerous  people,  living  in  the 
mountains  northwest  from  the  Charleston  settlements  and  having 
sixty  towns,  but  of  small  importance  in  the  Indian  trade,  being 
"but  ordinary  hunters  and  less  warriors."  ° 

In  the  war  with  the  Tuscarora  in  1711-1713,  which  resulted  in  the 
expulsion  of  that  tribe  from  North  Carolina,  more  than  a  thousand 
southern  Indians  reenforced  the  South  Carolina  volunteers,  among 
them  being  over  two  hundred  Cherokee,  hereditary  enemies  of  the 
Tuscarora.  Although  these  Indian  allies  did  their  work  well  in  the 
actual  encounters,  their  assistance  was  of  doubtful  advantage,  as  they 
helped  themselves  freely  to  whatever  they  wanted  along  the  way,  so 
that  the  settlers  had  reason  to  fear  them  almost  as  much  as  the  hostile 

'  Noted  in  Cherokee  Advocate,  Tahlequah,  Indian  Territory,  January  30,  1845. 

2  Document  of  1691,  South  Carolina  Hist.  Soc.  Colls.,  I,  p.  126. 

3  Hewat,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  i,  p.  127,  1778. 

*  Documents  of  1705,  in  North  Carolina  Colonial  Records,  ii,  p.  904;  Raleigh,  1886. 
6  Haywood,  Nat.  and  Aborig.  Tenn.,  p.  237,  1823;  with  tho  usual  idea  that  Indians  live  to  extreme  old 
age,  Haywood  makes  her  110  years  old  at  her  death,  putting  back  the  introduction  of  firearms  to  1677. 
»  Letter  of  1708,  ia  Rivers,  South  Carolina,  p.  238, 1856. 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  149 

Tuscarora.  After  torturing  a  large  number  of  their  prisoners  in  the 
usual  savage  fashion,  they  returned  with  the  remainder,  whom  they 
afterward  sold  as  slaves  to  South  CaroMna.^ 

Having  wiped  out  old  scores  with  the  Tuscarora,  the  late  allies  of 
the  English  proceeded  to  discuss  their  own  grievances,  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  were  sufficiently  galling.  The  result  was  a  combination 
against  the  whites,  embracing  all  the  tribes  from  Cape  Fear  to  the 
Chattahoochee,  including  the  Cherokee,  who  thus  for  the  first  time 
raised  their  hand  against  the  EngUsh.  The  war  opened  with  a  terrible 
massacre  by  the  Yamassee  in  April,  1715,  followed  by  assaults  along 
the  whole  frontier,  until  for  a  time  it  was  seriously  feared  that  the 
colony  of  South  Carolina  would  be  wiped  out  of  existence.  In  a 
contest  between  savagery  and  civilization,  however,  the  final  result  is 
inevitable.  The  settlers  at  last  raUied  their  whole  force  under  Gov- 
ernor Craven  and  administered  such  a  crushing  blow  to  the  Yamassee 
that  the  remnant  abandoned  their  country  and  took  refuge  with  the 
Spaniards  in  Florida  or  among  the  Lower  Creeks.  The  Enghsh  then 
made  short  work  with  the  smaller  tribes  along  the  coast,  while  those 
in  the  interior  were  soon  glad  to  sue  for  peace.^ 

A  number  of  Cherokee  chiefs  having  come  down  to  Charleston  in 
company  with  a  trader  to  express  their  desire  for  peace,  a  force  of 
several  hundred  white  troops  and  a  number  of  negroes  under  Colonel 
Maurice  Moore  went  up  the  Savannah  in  the  winter  of  1715-16  and 
made  headquarters  among  the  Lower  Cherokee,  where  they  were 
met  by  the  chiefs  of  the  Lower  and  some  of  the  western  towns, 
who  reaffirmed  their  desire  for  a  lasting  peace  with  the  English,  but 
refused  to  fight  against  the  Yamassee,  although  wilhng  to  proceed 
against  some  other  tribes.  They  laid  the  blame  for  most  of  the 
trouble  upon  the  traders,  who,  "had  been  very  abuseful  to  them  of 
late."  A  detachment  under  Colonel  George  Chicken,  sent  to  the 
Upper  Cherokee,  penetrated  to  "Quoneashee"  (Tlanusi'yl,  on  Hiwas- 
see,  about  the  present  Murphy)  where  they  found  the  chiefs  more 
defiant,  resolved  to  continue  the  war  against  the  Creeks,  with  whom 
the  Enghsh  were  then  trying  to  make  peace,  and  demanding  large 
supplies  of  guns  and  ammunition,  saying  that  if  they  made  a  peace 
with  the  other  tribes  they  would  have  no  means  of  getting  slaves  with 
which  to  buy  ammunition  for  themselves.  At  this  time  they  claimed 
2,370  warriors,  of  whom  half  were  beMeved  to  have  guns.  As  the 
strength  of  the  whole  nation  was  much  greater,  this  estimate  may 
have  been  for  the  Upper  and  Middle  Cherokee  only.  After  "abund- 
ance of  persuading"  by  the  officers,  they  finally  "told  us  they  would 
trust  us  once  again,"  and  an  arrangement  was  made  to  furnish  them 
two  hundred  guns  with  a  supply  of  ammunition,  together  with  fifty 
white  soldiers,  to  assist  them  against  the  tribes  with  which  the 
English  were  still  at  war.  In  March,  1716,  this  force  was  increased  by 
one  hundred  men.  The  detachment  under  Colonel  Chicken  returned 
by  way  of  the  towns  on  the  upper  part  of  the  Little  Tennessee,  thus 
penetrating  the  heart  of  the  Cherokee  country. ^ 

Steps  were  now  taken  to  secure  peace  by  inaugurating  a  satisfactory 
trade  system,  for  which  purpose  a  large  quantity  of  suitable  goods 

1  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation,  Fifth  Ann.  Rep.  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  140,  1888;  Hewat,  op.  cit ,  p.  216  et 
passim. 
«  Hewat,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  I,  p.  216  et  passim,  1778. 
•  See  Journal  of  Colonel  George  Chicken,  1715-16,  with  notes,  in  Charleston  Yearbook,  pp.  313-354, 1894. 


150  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

was  purchased  at  the  public  expense  of  South  CaroHna,  and  a  corre- 
spondingly large  party  was  equipped  for  the  initial  trip.^  In  1721, 
in  order  still  more  to  systematize  Indian  affairs,  Governor  Nicholson 
of  South  Carohna  invited  the  chiefs  of  the  Cherokee  to  a  conference, 
at  which  thirty-seven  towns  were  represented.  A  treaty  was  made 
by  which  trading  methods  were  regulated,  a  boundary  line  between 
their  territory  and  the  English  settlements  was  agreed  upon,  and  an 
agent  was  appointed  to  superintend  their  affairs.  At  the  governor's 
suggestion,  one  chief,  called  Wrosetasatow(  ?)  was  formally  commis- 
sioned as  supreme  head  of  the  nation,  with  authority  to  punish  all 
offenses,  including  murder,  and  to  represent  all  Cherokee  claims  to 
the  colonial  government.  Thus  were  the  Cherokee  reduced  from  their 
former  condition  of  a  free  people,  ranging  where  their  pleasure  led,  to 
that  of  dependent  vassals  with  bounds  fixed  by  a  colonial  governor. 
The  negotiations  were  accompanied  by  a  cession  of  land,  the  first  in  , 
the  history  of  the  tribe.  In  httle  more  than  a  century  thereafter  they 
had  signed  away  their  whole  original  territory. ^ 

The  document  of  1716  already  quoted  puts  the  strength  of  the 
Cherokee  at  that  time  at  2,370  warriors,  but  in  this  estimate  the 
Lower  Cherokee  seem  not  to  have  been  included.  In  1715,  according, 
to  a  trade  census  compiled  by  Governor  Johnson  of  South  CaroHna, 
the  tribe  had  thirty  towns,  with  4,000  warriors  and  a  total  population 
of  11,210.^  Another  census  in  1721  gives  them  fifty-three  towns  with 
3,510  warriors  and  a  total  of  10,379,*  while  the  report  of  the  board  of 
trade  for  the  same  year  gives  them  3,800  warriors,^  equivalent,  by  the 
same  proportion,  to  nearly  12,000  total.  Adair,  a  good  authority  on 
such  matters,  estimates,  about  the  year  1735,  when  the  country  was 
better  known,  that  they  had  ''sixty-four  towns  and  villages,  populous 
and  full  of  children,"  with  more  than  6,000  fighting  men,^  equivalent 
on  the  same  basis  of  computation  to  between  16,000  and  17,000  souls. 
From  what  we  know  of  them  in  later  times,  it  is  probable  that  this 
last  estimate  is  very  nearly  correct. 

By  this  time  the  colonial  government  had  become  alarmed  at  the 
advance  of  the  French,  who  had  made  their  first  permanent  establish- 
ment in  the  Gulf  States  at  Biloxi  Bay,  Mississippi,  in  1699,  and  in 
1714  had  built  Fort  Toulouse,  known  to  the  English  as  "the  fort  at 
the  Alabamas,"  on  Coosa  River,  a  few  miles  above  the  present  Mont- 
gomery, Alabama.  From  this  central  vantage  point  they  had  rapidly 
extended  their  influence  among  all  the  neighboring  tribes  until  m 
1721  it  was  estimated  that  3,400  warriors  who  had  formerly  traded 
with  Carolina  had  been  "entirely  debauched  to  the  French  interest," 
while  2,000  more  were  wavering,  and  only  the  Cherokee  could  still  be 
considered  friendly  to  the  English.''  From  this  time  until  the  final 
withdrawal  of  the  French  in  1763  the  explanation  of  our  Indian  wars 
is  to  be  found  in  the  struggle  between  the  two  nations  for  territorial 
and  commercial  supremacy,  the  Indian  being  simply  the  cat's-paw  of 
one  or  the  other.  For  reasons  of  their  own,  tlie  Chickasaw,  whose 
territory  lay  within  the  recognized  limits  of  Louisiana,  soon  became 

1  Journal  of  South  Carolina  Assembly,  in  North  Carolina  Colonial  Records,  n,  pp.  225-227, 1886. 

2  Hewat,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  i,  pp.  297-298, 1778;  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation  in  Fifth  Ann.  Rep, 
Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  144  and  map,  1888. 

3  Royce,  op.  cit.,  p.  142. 

*  Document  of  1724,  in  Femow,  Berthold,  Ohio  Valley  in  Colonial  Days,  pp.  273-275;  Albany,  1890. 

^Report  of  Board  of  Trade,  1721,  in  North  Carolina  Colonial  Records,  n,  p.  422, 1886. 

6  Adair,  James,  American  Indians,  p.  227:  London,  1775. 

'  Board  of  Trade  report,  1721,  North  Carolina  Colonial  Records,  n,  p.  422, 1886. 


INDIANS  OF  NORTH  CAEOLINA.  151 

the  uncompromising  enemies  of  the  French,  and  as  their  position 
enabled  them  in  a  measure  to  control  the  approach  from  the  !Missis- 
sippi,  the  Carolina  government  saw  to  it  that  tney  were  kept  well  sup- 
plied with  guns  and  ammunition.  British  traders  were  in  all  their 
towns,  and  on  one  occasion  a  French  force,  advancing  against  a  Chick- 
asaw pahsaded  village,  found  it  garrisoned  by  Englishmen  flying  the 
British  flag.^  The  Cherokee,  although  nominally  allies  of  the  EngUsh, 
were  strongly  disposed  to  favor  the  French,  and  it  required  every 
effort  of  the  Carolina  government  to  hold  them  to  their  allegiance. 

In  1730,  to  further  fix  the  Cherokee  in  the  English  interest.  Sir 
Alexander  Cuming  w^as  dispatched  on  a  secret  mission  to  that  tribe, 
which  was  again  smarting  under  grievances  and  almost  ready  to  join 
with  the  Creeks  in  an  alliance  with  the  French.  Proceeding  to  the 
ancient  town  of  Nequassee  (NikwasI',  at  the  present  Frankhn,  North 
Carolina),  he  so  impressed  the  chiefs  by  his  bold  bearing  that  ihej 
conceded  without  question  all  his  demands,  submitting  themselves 
and  their  people  for  the  second  time  to  the  Enghsh  dominion  and 
designating  Moytoy,  of  Tellico,  to  act  as  their  "emperor"  and  to 
represent  the  nation  in  all  transactions  with  the  whites.  Seven  chiefs 
were  selected  to  visit  England,  where,  in  the  palace  at  Whitehall, 
they  solemnly  renewed  the  treaty,  acknowledging  the  sovereignty  of 
England  and  binding  themselves  to  have  no  trade  or  alhance  mth  any 
other  nation,  not  to  allow  any  other  white  people  to  settle  among 
them,  and  to  deliver  up  any  fugitive  slaves  who  might  seek  refuge 
with  them.  To  confirm  their  words  they  delivered  a  "crown,"  five 
eagle  tails,  and  four  scalps,  which  they  had  brought  with  thrm.  In 
return  they  received  the  usual  ghttering  promises  of  love  and  per- 
petual friendship,  together  with  a  substantial  quantity  of  guns, 
ammunition,  and  red  paint.  The  treaty  being  concluded  in  Septem- 
ber, they  took  ship  for  Carohna,  where  they  arrived,  as  we  are  told 
by  the  governor,  "in  good  health  and  mightily  weU  satisfied  w4th  His 
Majesty's  bounty  to  them."  ^ 

In  the  next  year  some  action  was  taken  to  use  the  Cherokee  and 
Catawba  to  subdue  the  refractory  remnant  of  the  Tuscarora  in  North 
CaroUna,  but  when  it  was  found  that  this  was  hable  to  bring  down  the 
wrath  of  the  Iroquois  upon  the  Carohna  settlements,  more  peaceable 
methods  were  used  instead.^ 

In  1738  or  1739  the  smallpox,  brought  to  Carolina  by  slave  ships, 
broke  out  among  the  Cherokee  with  such  terrible  effect  that,  according 
to  Adair,  nearly  half  the  tribe  was  swept  away  within  a  year.  The 
awful  mortality  was  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  as  it  was  a  new  and 
strange  disease  to  the  Indians  they  had  no  proper  remedies  against  it, 
and  therefore  resorted  to  the  universal  Indian  panacea  for  "strong" 
sickness  of  almost  any  kind,  viz,  cold  plunge  baths  in  the  running 
stream,  the  worst  treatment  that  could  possibly  be  devised.  As  the 
pestilence  spread  unchecked  from  town  to  town,  despair  fell  upon  the 
nation.  The  priests,  beheving  the  visitation  a  penalty  for  violation  of 
the  ancient  ordinances,  threw  away  their  sacred  paraphernaha  as  things 
which  had  lost  their  protecting  power.     Hundreds  of  the  warriors 

1  Pickett,  A.  J.,  History  of  Alabama,  pp.  234,  280,  288;  reprint,  Sheffield,  1896. 

2  Hewat,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  n,  pp.  3-11,  1779;  treaty  documents  of  1730,  North  Carolina  Colo- 
nial Records,  m,  pp.  128-133,  18SR;  Jenkinson,  Collection  of  ';  reaties,  ii,  pp.  315-318;  Drake,  S.  G.,  Early 
History  of  Georgia;  Cuming's  Embassy;  Boston,  1872;  letter  of  Governor  Johnson,  December  27,  1730, 
noted  m  South  Carolina  Hist.  Soc.  Colls.,  I,  p.  246, 1857. 

3  Documents  of  1731  and  1732,  North  Carolina  Colonial  Records,  in,  pp.  153,  202,  345,  369,  393,  1886. 


152  INDIANS   OP   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

committed  suicide  on  beholding  their  frightful  disfigurement.  "Some 
shot  themselves,  others  cut  their  throats,  some  stabbed  themselves 
with  knives  and  others  with  sharp-pointed  canes;  many  threw  them- 
selves with  sullen  madness  into  the  fire  and  there  slowly  expired,  as  if 
they  had  been  utterly  divested  of  the  native  power  of  feehng  pain."  * 
Another  authority  estimates  their  loss  at  a  thousand  warriors,  partly 
from  smallpox  and  partly  from  rum  brought  in  by  the  traders.^ 

About  the  year  1740  a  trading  path  for  horsemen  was  marked  out 
by  the  Cherokee  from  the  new  settlement  of  Augusta,  in  Georgia,  to 
their  towns  on  the  headwaters  of  Savannah  River  and  thence  on  to  the 
west.  This  road,  which  went  up  the  south  side  of  the  river,  soon 
became  much  frequented.^  Previous  to  this  time  most  of  the  trading 
goods  had  been  transported  on  the  backs  of  Indians.  In  the  same 
year  a  party  of  Cherokee  under  the  war  chief  K^'lanti,  "The  Raven," 
took  part  in  Oglethorpe's  expedition  against  the  Spaniards  of  Saint 
Augustine.^ 

In  1736  Christian  Priber,  said  to  be  a  Jesuit  acting  in  the  French 
interest,  had  come  among  the  Cherokee,  and,  by  the  facility  with 
which  he  learned  the  language  and  adapted  himself  to  the  native  dress 
and  mode  of  Uf e,  had  quicklj  acquired  a  leading  influence  among  them. 
He  drew  up  for  their  adoption  a  scheme  of  government  modeled  after 
the  European  plan,  with  the  capital  at  Great  Telhco,  in  Tennessee, 
the  principal  medicine  man  as  emperor,  and  himself  as  the  emperor's 
secretary.  Under  this  title  he  corresponded  with  the  South  Carohna 
government  until  it  began  to  be  \<^ared  that  he  would  ultimately  win 
over  the  whole  tribe  to  the  French  \^ide.  A  commissioner  was  sent  to 
arrest  him,  but  the  Cherokee  refused  to  give  him  up,  and  the  deputy 
was  obhged  to  return  under  safe-conduct  of  an  escort  furnished  by 
Priber.  Five  years  after  the  inauguration  of  his  work,  however,  he 
was  seized  by  some  English  traders  while  on  his  way  to  Fort  Toulouse, 
and  brought  as  a  prisoner  to  Frederic  a,  in  Georgia,  where  he  soon 
afterward  died  while  under  confinement.  Although  his  enemies  had 
represented  him  as  a  monster,  inciting  the  Indians  to  the  grossest 
immoralities,  he  proved  to  be  a  gentleman  of  pohshed  address,  exten- 
sive learning,  and  rare  courage,  as  was  shown  later  on  the  occasion  of 
an  explosion  in  the  barracks  magazine.  Besides  Greek,  Latin,  French, 
German,  Spanish,  and  fluent  Enghsh,  he  spoke  also  the  Cherokee, 
and  among  his  papers  which  were  seized  was  found  a  manuscript 
dictionary  of  the  language,  which  he  had  prepared  for  pubHcation — 
the  first,  and  even  yet,  perhaps,  the  most  important  study  of  the  lan- 
guage ever  made.     Says  Adair: 

As  lie  was  learned  and  possessed  of  a  very  sagacious  penetrating  judgment,  and 
had  every  qualification  that  was  reqxiisite  for  his  bold  and  difficult  enterprise,  it  was 
not  to  be  doubted  that,  as  he  wrote  a  Cheerake  dictionary,  designed  to  be  published 
at  Paris,  he  likewise  set  down  a  great  deal  that  would  have  been  very  acceptable  to 
the  curious  and  serviceable  to  the  representatives  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
which  may  be  readily  found  in  Frederica  if  the  manuscripts  have  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  escape  the  despoiling  hands  of  military  power. 

He  claimed  to  be  a  Jesuit,  acting  under  orders  of  his  superior,  to 
introduce  habits  of  steady  industry,  civiHzed  arts,  and  a  regular  form 
of  government  among  the  southern  tribes,  with  a  view  to  the  ultimate 

1  Adair,  American  Indians,  pp.  232-234, 1775. 

2  Meadows  (?),  State  of  the  Province  of  Georgia,  p.  7, 1742,  in  Force  Tracts,  i,  1836. 
'"  Jones,  C.  C,  History  of  Georgia,  i,  pp.  327, 328;  Boston,  1883. 


INDIANS   OF   NOETH   CAEOLINA.  153 

founding  of  an  independent  Indian  state.  From  all  that  can  be  gath- 
ered of  him,  even  though  it  comes  from  his  enemies,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  he  was  a  worthy  member  of  that  illustrious  order  whose 
name  has  been  a  synonym  for  scholarship,  devotion,  and  courage  from 
the  days  of  Jogues  and  Marquette  down  to  De  Smet  and  Mengarini.^ 

Up  to  this  time  no  civihzing  or  mission  work  had  been  undertaken 
by  either  of  the  Carohna  governments  among  any  of  the  tribes  within 
tneir  borders.  As  one  writer  of  the  period  quaintly  puts  it,  "The 
gospel  spirit  is  not  yet  so  gloriously  arisen  as  to  seek  them  more  than 
theirs,"  while  another  in  stronger  terms  affirms,  "To  the  shame  of 
the  Christian  name,  no  pains  have  ever  been  taken  to  convert  them  to 
Christianity;  on  the  contrary,  their  morals  are  perverted  and  cor- 
ruj)ted  by  the  sad  example  they  daily  have  of  its  depraved  professors 
residing  m  their  towns."  ^  Readers  of  Lawson  and  other  narratives 
of  the  period  will  feel  the  force  of  the  rebuke. 

Throughout  the  eighteenth  century  the  Cherokee  were  engaged  in 
chronic  warfare  with  their  Indian  neighbors.  As  these  quarrels  con- 
cerned the  whites  but  httle,  however  momentous  they  may  have  been 
to  the  principals,  we  have  but  few  details.  The  war  with  the  Tusca- 
rora  continued  until  the  outbreak  of  the  latter  tribe  against  Carolina 
in  1711  gave  opportunity  to  the  Cherokee  to  cooperate  in  striking  the 
blow  which  drove  the  Tuscarora  from  their  ancient  homes  to  seek 
refuge  in  the  North.  The  Cherokee  then  turned  their  attention  to  the 
Shawano  on  the  Cinnberland,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  Chickasaw  finally 
expelled  them  from  that  region  about  the  year  1715.  Inroads  upon 
the  Catawba  were  probably  kept  up  until  the  latter  had  become  so  far 
reduced  by  war  and  disease  as  to  be  mere  dependent  pensioners  upon 
the  whites.  The  former  friendship  with  the  Chickasaw  was  at  last 
broken  through  the  overbearing  conduct  of  the  Cherokee,  and  a  war 
followed  of  which  we  find  incidental  notice  in  1757,^  and  which  termi- 
nated in  a  decisive  victory  for  the  Chickasaw  about  1768.  The  bitter 
war  with  the  Iroquois  of  the  far  North  continued,  in  spite  of  all  the 
efforts  of  the  Colonial  governments,  until  a  formal  treaty  of  peace  was 
brought  about  by  the  efforts  of  Sir  WiUiam  Johnson  (12)  in  the  same 
year. 

The  hereditary  war  with  the  Creeks  for  possession  of  upper  Georgia 
continued,  with  brief  intervals  of  peace,  or  even  alHance,  until  the 
United  States  finally  interfered  as  mediator  between  the  rival  claim- 
ants. In  1718  we  find  notice  of  a  large  Cherokee  war  party  moving 
against  the  Creek  town  of  Coweta,  on  the  lower  Chattahoochee,  but 
dispersing  on  learning  of  the  presence  there  of  some  French  and 
Spanish  officers,  as  well  as  some  English  traders,  all  bent  on  arranging 
an  aUiance  with  the  Creeks.  The  Creeks  themselves  had  declared 
their  willingness  to  be  at  peace  with  the  Enghsh,  while  still  deter- 
mined to  keep  the  bloody  hatchet  uplifted  against  the  Cherokee.* 
The  most  important  incident  of  the  struggle  between  the  two  tribes 
was  probably  the  battle  of  Tah'wa  about  the  year  1755.^ 

By  this  time  the  weaker  coast  tribes  had  become  practically  extinct, 
and  the  more  powerful  tribes  of  the  interior  were  beginning  to  take 

>  Adair,  American  Indians,  pp.  240-243, 1775;  Stevens,  W.  B.,  History  of  Georgia,  i,  pp.  104-107;  Phila., 
1847. 
'  Anonymous  writer  in  Carroll,  Hist.  Colls,  of  South  Carolina,  n,  pp.  97-98,  517, 1836. 
»  Buckle,  Journal,  1757,  in  Rivers,  South  Carolina,  p.  57, 1856. 

«Barcia,  A.  G.,  Ensayo  Chronologico  para  la  Historia  General  de  la  Florida,  pp.  335,  336,  Madrid,  1723, 
6  For  more  in  regard  to  these  intertribal  wars  see  the  historical  traditions. 


154  INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

the  alarm,  as  they  saw  the  restless  borderers  pushing  every  year 
farther  into  the  Indian  country.  As  early  as  1748  Dr.  Thomas 
Walker,  with  a  company  of  hunters  and  woodsmen  from  Virginia, 
crossed  the  mountains  to  the  southwest,  discovering  and  naming  the 
celebrated  Cumberland  Gap  and  passing  on  to  the  headwaters  of 
Cumberland  River.  Two  years  later  he  made  a  second  exploration 
and  penetrated  to  Kentucky  River,  but  on  accoimt  of  the  Indian 
troubles  no  permanent  settlement  was  then  attempted.*  This  inva- 
sion of  their  territory  awakened  a  natural  resentment  of  the  native 
owners,  and  we  find  proof  also  in  the  Virginia  records  that  the  irre- 
sponsible borderers  seldom  let  pass  an  opportunity  to  kill  and  plunder 
any  stray  Indian  found  in  their  neighborhood. 

In  1755  the  Cherokee  were  officially  reported  to  number  2,590  war- 
riors, as  against  probably  twice  that  number  previous  to  the  great 
smallpox  epidemic  sixteen  years  before.  Their  neighbors  and  ancient 
enemies,  the  Catawba,  had  dwindled  to  240  men.^ 

Although  war  was  not  formally  declared  by  England  until  1756, 
hostihties  in  the  seven  years'  struggle  between  France  and  England, 
commonly  known  in  America  as  the  "French  and  Indian  War,"  began 
in  April,  1754,  when  the  French  seized  a  small  post  which  the  English 
had  begun  at  the  present  site  of  Pittsburg,  and  which  was  afterward 
finished  by  the  French  under  the  name  of  Fort  Du  Quesne.  Strenuous 
efforts  were  made  by  the  EngUsh  to  secure  the  Cherokee  to  their 
interest  against  the  French  and  their  Indian  alhes,  and  treaties  were 
negotiated  by  which  they  promised  assistance.^  As  these  treaties, 
however,  carried  the  usual  cessions  of  territory,  and  stipulated  for 
the  building  of  several  forts  in  the  heart  of  the  Cherokee  country,  it 
is  to  be  feared  that  the  Indians  were  not  duly  impressed  by  the  disin- 
terested character  of  the  ]:)roceeding.  Their  preference  for  the  French 
was  but  thinly  veiled,  and  only  immediate  pohcy  prevented  them  from 
throwing  their  whole  force  into  the  scale  on  that  side.  The  reasons 
for  this  preference  are  given  by  Timberlake,  the  young  Virginian 
officer  who  visited  the  tribe  on  an  embassy  of  concihation  a  few  years 
later: 

I  found  the  nation  mucli  attached  to  the  French,  who  have  the  prudence,  by  fa- 
miliar politeness — which  costs  but  little  and  often  does  a  great  deal — and  conforming 
themselves  to  their  ways  and  temper,  to  conciliate  the  inclinations  of  almost  all  the 
Indians  they  are  acquainted  with,  while  the  pride  of  our  officers  often  disgusts  them. 
Nay,  they  did  not  scruple  to  own  to  me  that  it  was  the  trade  alone  that  induced  them 
to  make  peace  with  us,  and  not  any  preference  to  the  French,  whom  they  loved  a 
great  deal  better.  .  .  .  The  English  are  now  so  nigh,  and  encroached  daily  so  far 
upon  them,  that  they  not  only  felt  the  bad  effects  of  it  in  their  hunting  grounds,  which 
were  spoiled,  but  had  all  the  reason  in  the  world  to  apprehend  being  swallowed  up  by 
so  potent  neighbors  or  driven  from  the  country  inhabited  by  their  fathers,  in  which 
they  were  born  and  brought  up,  in  fine,  their  native  soil,  for  which  all  men  have  a 
particular  tenderness  and  affection. 

He  adds  that  only  dire  necessity  had  induced  them  to  make  peace 
with  the  English  in  1761.* 

In  accordance  with  the  treaty  stipulations,  Fort  Prince  George  was 
built  in  1756  adjoining  the  important  Cherokee  town  of  Keowee,  on 
the  headwaters  of  the  Savannah,  and  Fort  Loudon  near  the  junction 

1  Walker,  Thomas,  Journal  of  an  Exploration,  etc.,  pp.  8,  35-37;  Boston,  1888;  Monette  (Valley  of  the 
Miss.  I,  p.  317;  New  York,  18^8)  erroneouslv  makes  the  second  date  1758. 

2  Letter  of  Governor  Dobbs,  1755,  in  North  Carolina  Colonial  Records,  v.  pp.  320,  321,  1887. 

3  Ramsey,  Tennessee,  pp.  50-52,  1853;  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation,  in  Fifth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  of  Ethnology, 
p.  145, 1888. 

*  Timberlalie,  Henry,  Memoirs,  pp.  73^  74;  London,  1765, 


INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAEOLINA.  155 

of  Tellico  River  with  the  Little  Tennessee,  in  the  center  of  the  Chero- 
kee towns  beyond  the  mountains.*^  By  special  arrangement  with 
the  influential  chief,  Ata-kullakulla  (Ata'-gul"kalu');^  Fort  Dobbs  was 
also  built  in  the  same  year  about  20  miles  west  of  the  present  Salis- 
bury, North  Carolina.^ 

The  Cherokee  had  agreed  to  furnish  four  hundred  warriors  to 
cooperate  against  the  French  in  the  north,  but  before  Fort  Loudon 
had  been  completed  it  was  very  evident  that  they  had  repented  of 
their  promise,  as  their  great  council  at  Echota  ordered  the  work 
stopped  and  the  garrison  on  the  way  to  turn  back,  plainly  telling  the 
officer  in  charge  that  they  did  not  want  so  many  white  people  among 
them.  Ata-kullakulla,  hitherto  supposed  to  be  one  of  the  stanchest 
friends  of  the  English,  was  now  one  of  the  most  determined  in  the 
opposition.  It  was  in  evidence  also  that  they  were  in  constant  com- 
munication with  the  French.  By  much  tact  and  argument  their 
objections  were  at  last  overcome  for  a  time,  and  they  very  unwill- 
ingly set  about  raising  the  promised  force  of  warriors.  Major  Andrew 
Lewis,  who  superintended  the  building  of  the  fort,  became  convinced 
that  the  Cherokee  were  really  friendly  to  the  French,  and  that  all 
their  professions  of  friendship  and  assistance  were  "only  to  put  a 
gloss  on  their  knavery."  The  fort  was  finally  completed,  and,  on 
his  suggestion,  was  garrisoned  with  a  strong  force  of  two  hundred  men 
under  Captain  Demere.*  There  was  strong  ground  for  believing  that 
some  depredations  committed  about  this  time  on  the  heads  of 
Catawba  and  Broad  Rivers,  in  North  Carolina,  were  the  joint  work  of 
Cherokee  and  northern  Indians.^  Notwithstanding  all  this,  a  con- 
siderable body  of  Cherokee  joined  the  British  forces  on  the  Virginia 
frontier.® 

Fort  Du  Quesne  was  taken  by  the  American  provincials  under 
Washington,  November  25,  1758.  Quebec  was  taken  September  13, 
1759,  and  by  the  final  treaty  of  peace  in  1763  the  war  ended  with  the 
transfer  of  Canada  and  the  Ohio  Valley  to  the  Crown  of  England. 
Louisiana  had  already  been  ceded  by  France  to  Spain. 

Although  France  was  thus  eliminated  from  the  Indian  problem,  the 
Indians  themselves  were  not  ready  to  accept  the  settlement.  In  the 
North  the  confederated  tribes  under  Pontiac  continued  to  war  on  their 
own  account  until  1765.  In  the  South  the  very  Cherokee  who  had 
acted  as  allies  of  the  British  against  Fort  Du  Quesne,  and  had  volun- 
tarily offered  to  guard  the  frontier  south  of  the  Potomac,  returned 
to  rouse  their  tribe  to  resistance. 

The  immediate  exciting  cause  of  the  trouble  was  an  unfortunate 
expedition  undertaken  against  the  hostile  Shawano  in  February,  1756, 
by  Major  Andrew  Lewis  (the  same  who  had  built  Fort  Loudon)  with 
some  two  hundred  Virginia  troops  assisted  by  about  one  hundred 
Cherokee.  After  six  weeks  of  fruitless  tramping  through  the  woods, 
with  the  ground  covered  with  snow  and  the  streams  so  swollen  by 
rains  that  the\  lost  their  provisions  and  ammunition  in  crossing,  they 
were  obhged  to  return  to  the  settlements  in  a  starving  condition,  hav- 

1  Ramsey,  Tennessee,  p.  51,  1853;  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation,  in  Fifth  Ann.  Rept.  Bur.  of  Ethnology, 
p.  145,  1888. 

»  For  notice  see  AtS,'-giH"k21li',  in  the  glossary. 

»  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  p.  50. 

*  Letters  of  Major  Andrew  Lewis  and  Governor  Dinwiddie,  1756,  in  North  Carolina  Colonial  Records 
V,  pp.  585,  612-614,  635,  637,  1887;  Ramsey,  op  cit.,  pp.  51,  52. 

'Letter  of  Governor  Dobbs,  1756,  in  North  Carolina  Colonial  Records,  V,  p.  604,  1887. 

•Dinwiddie  letter,  1757,  ibid.,  p.  765. 


156  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

ing  killed  their  horses  on  the  way.  The  Indian  contingent  had  from 
the  first  been  disgusted  at  the  contempt  and  neglect  experienced  from 
those  whom  they  had  come  to  assist.  The  Tuscarora  and  others  had 
already  gone  home,  and  the  Cherokee  now  started  to  return  on  foot 
to  their  own  country.  Finding  some  horses  running  loose  on  the 
range,  they  appropriated  them,  on  the  theory  that  as  they  had  lost 
their  own  animals,  to  say  nothing  of  having  risked  their  lives,  in  the 
service  of  the  colonists,  it  was  only  a  fair  exchange.  The  frontiers- 
men took  another  view  of  the  question,  however,  attacked  the  return- 
ing Cherokee,  and  killed  a  number  of  them,  variously  stated  at  from 
twelve  to  forty,  including  several  of  their  prominent  men.  Accord- 
ing to  Adair  they  also  scalped  and  mutilated  the  bodies  in  the  savage 
fashion  to  which  they  had  become  accustomed  in  the  border  wars  and 
brought  the  scalps  into  the  settlements,  where  they  were  represented 
as  those  of  French  Indians  and  sold  at  the  regular  price  then  estab- 
lished by  law.  The  young  warriors  at  once  prepared  to  take  revenge, 
but  were  restrained  by  the  chiefs  until  satisfaction  could  be  demanded 
in  the  ordinary  way,  according  to  the  treaties  arranged  with  the 
colonial  governments.  Application  was  made  in  turn  to  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  and  South  Carolina,  but  without  success.  While 
the  women  were  still  wailing  night  and  morning  for  their  slain  kin- 
dred, and  the  Creeks  were  taunting  the  warriors  for  their  cowardice 
in  thus  quietly  submitting  to  the  injury,  some  lawless  officers  of 
Fort  Prince  George  committed  an  unpardonable  outrage  at  the 
neighboring  Indian  town  while  most  of  the  men  were  away  hunting.^ 
The  warriors  could  no  longer  be  restrained.  Soon  there  was  news  of 
attacks  upon  the  back  settlements  of  Carolina,  while  on  the  other 
side  of  the  mountains  two  soldiers  of  the  Fort  Loudon  garrison  were 
kiUed.     War  seemed  at  hand. 

At  this  juncture,  in  November,  1758,  a  party  of  influential  chiefs, 
having  first  ordered  back  a  war  party  just  about  to  set  out  from  the 
western  towns  against  the  Carolina  settlements,  came  down  to  Charles- 
ton and  succeeded  in  arranging  the  difficulty  upon  a  friendly  basis. 
The  assembly  had  officially  declared  peace  with  the  Cherokee,  when,  in 
May  of  1759,  Governor  Lyttleton  unexpectedly  came  forward  with  a 
demand  for  the  surrender  Jor  execution  of  every  Indian  who  had  killed 
a  white  man  in  the  recent  skirmishes,  among  these  being  the  chiefs  of 
Citico  and  Tellico.  At  the  same  time  the  commander  at  Fort  Loudon, 
forgetful  of  the  fact  that  he  had  but  a  small  garrison  in  the  midst  of 
several  thousands  of  restless  savages,  made  a  demand  for  twenty-four 
other  chiefs  whom  he  suspected  of  unfriendly  action.  To  compel  their 
surrender  orders  were  given  to  stop  all  trading  supplies  intended  for 
the  upper  Cherokee. 

This  roused  the  whole  nation,  and  a  delegation  representing  every 
town  came  down  to  Charleston,  protesting  the  desire  of  the  Indians  for 
peace  and  friendship,  but  declaring  their  inability  to  surrender  their 
own  chiefs.  The  governor  replied  by  declaring  war  in  November, 
1759,  at  once  calling  out  troops  and  sending  messengers  to  secure  the 
aid  of  all  the  surrounding  tribes  against  the  Cherokee.  In  the  mean- 
time a  second  delegation  of  thirty-two  of  the' most  prominent  men, 

I  Adair,  American  Indians,  245-246,  1775;  North  Carolina  Colonial  Records,  V,  p.  xlviii,  1887;  Hewat, 
quoted  in  Ramsey,  Tennessee,  p.  54, 1853. 


INDIAN'S   OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA.  157 

led  by  the  young  war  chief  Oconostota  (Agan-stata)/  arrived  to  make 
a  further  effort  for  peace,  but  the  governor,  refusing  to  Hsten  to  thsm, 
siezed  the  whole  party  and  confined  them  as  prisoners  at  Fort  Prince 
George,  in  a  room  large  enough  for  only  six  soldiers,  while  at  tha  same 
time  he  set  fourteen  hundred  troops  in  motion  to  invade  the  Cherokee 
country.  On  further  representation  by  Ata-kullakulla  (Ata'-gM'- 
kaltiO,  the  civil  chief  of  the  nation  and  well  known  as  a  friend  of 
the  English,  the  governor  released  Oconostota  and  two  others  after 
compelling  some  half  dozen  of  the  delegation  to  sign  a  paper  by 
which  they  pretended  to  agree  for  their  tribe  to  kill  or  seize  any 
Frenchman  entering  their  country,  and  cons  anted  to  the  imprison- 
ment of  the  party  until  all  the  warriors  demanded  had  been  surren- 
dered for  execution  or  otherwise.  At  this  stage  of  affairs  the  small- 
pox broke  out  in  the  Cherokee  towns,  rendering  a  further  stay  in 
their  neighborhood  unsafe,  and  thinking  the  whole  matter  now  settled 
on  his  own  basis,  Lyttleton  returned  to  Charleston. 

The  event  soon  proved  how  little  he  knew  of  Indian  temper. 
Oconostota  at  once  laid  siege  to  Fort  Prince  George,  completely  cut- 
ting off  communication  at  a  time  when,  as  it  was  now  winter,  no  help 
could  well  be  expected  from  below.  In  February,  1760,  after  having 
kept  the  fort  thus  closely  invested  for  some  weeks,  he  sent  word  one 
day  by  an  Indian  woman  that  he  wished  to  speak  to  the  commander, 
Lieutenant  Coytmore.  As  the  lieutenant  stepped  out  from  the  stock- 
ade to  see  what  was  wanted,  Oconostota,  standing  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river,  swung  a  bridle  above  his  head  as  a  signal  to  his 
warriors  concealed  in  the  bushes,  and  the  officer  was  at  once  shot 
down.  The  soldiers  immediately  broke  into  the  room  where  the  host- 
ages were  confined,  every  one  being  a  chief  of  prominence  in  the  tribe, 
and  butchered  them  to  the  last  man. 

It  was  now  war  to  the  end.  Led  by  Oconostota,  the  Cherokee 
descended  upon  the  frontier  settlements  of  Carolina,  while  the  warriors 
across  the  mountains  laid  close  siege  to  Fort  Loudon.  In  June,  1760, 
a  strong  force  of  over  1,600  men,  under  Colonel  Montgomery,  started 
to  reduce  the  Cherokee  towns  and  relieve  the  beleaguered  garrison. 
Crossing  the  Indian  frontier,  Montgomery  quickly  drove  the  enemy 
from  about  Fort  Prince  George  and  then,  rapidly  advancing,  surprised 
Little  Keowee,  killing  every  man  of  the  defenders,  and  destroyed  in 
succession  every  one  of  the  Lower  Cherokee  towns,  burning  them  to 
the  ground,  cutting  down  the  cornfields  and  orchards,  killing  and 
taking  more  than  a  hundred  of  their  men,  and  driving  the  whole 
population  into  the  mountains  before  him.  His  own  loss  was  very 
slight.  He  then  sent  messengers  to  the  Middle  and  Upper  towns, 
summoning  them  to  surrender  on  penalty  of  the  like  fate,  but,  receiv- 
ing no  reply,  he  led  his  men  across  the  divide  to  the  waters  of  the 
Little  Tennessee  and  continued  down  that  stream  without  opposition 
until  he  came  in  the  vicinity  of  Echoee  (Itse'yl),  a  few  miles  above 
the  sacred  town  of  NIkwasI',  the  present  Franklin,  North  Carolina. 
Here  the  Cherokee  had  collected  their  full  force  to  resist  his  progress, 
and  the  result  was  a  desperate  engagement  on  June  27,  1760,  by  which 
Montgomery  was  compelled  to  retire  to  Fort  Prince  George,  after 
losing  nearly  one  hundred  men  in  killed  and  wounded.  The  Indian 
loss  is  unknown. 

1  For  notices  see  the  glossary. 


158  ESTDIAFS  OF   ISTOETH  CABOLINA. 

His  retreat  sealed  the  fate  of  Fort  Loudon.  The  garrison,  though 
hard  pressed  and  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  eating  horses  and  dogs, 
had  been  enabled  to  hold  out  through  the  kindness  of  the  Indian 
women,  many  of  whom,  having  found  sweethearts  among  the  soldiers, 
brought  them  supplies  of  food  daily.  When  threatened  by  the  chiefs 
the  women  boldly  replied  that  the  soldiers  were  their  husbands  and  it 
was  their  duty  to  help  them,  and  that  if  any  harm  came  to  themselves 
for  their  devotion  their  English  relatives  would  avenge  them.^  The 
end  was  only  delayed,  however,  and  on  August  8,  1760,  the  garrison 
of  about  two  hundred  men,  under  Captain  Demere,  surrendered  to 
Oconostota  on  promise  that  they  should  be  allowed  to  retire  unmo- 
lested with  their  arms  and  sufficient  ammunition  for  the  march,  on 
condition  of  delivering  up  all  the  remaining  warlike  stores. 

The  troops  marched  out  and  proceeded  far  enough  to  camp  for  the 
night,  while  the  Indians  swarmed  into  the  fort  to  see  what  plunder 
they  might  find.  "By  accident  a  discovery  was  made  of  ten  bags  of 
powder  and  a  large  quantity  of  ball  that  had  been  secretly  buried  in 
the  fort  to  prevent  their  falling  into  the  enemy's  hands"  (Hswat). 
It  is  said  also  that  cannon,  small  arms,  and  ammunition  had  been 
thrown  into  the  river  with  the  same  intention  (Haywood) .  Enraged 
at  this  breach  of  the  capitulation  the  Cherokee  attacked  the  soldiers 
next  morning  at  daylight,  killing  Demere  and  twenty-nine  others  at 
the  first  fire.  The  rest  were  taken  and  held  as  prisoners  until  ran- 
somed some  time  after.  The  second  officer,  Captain  Stuart,  for 
whom  the  Indians  had  a  high  regard ,  was  claimed  by  Ata-kullakuUa, 
who  soon  after  took  him  into  the  woods,  ostensibly  on  a  hunting 
excursion,  and  conducted  him  for  nine  days  through  the  wilderness 
until  he  delivered  him  safely  into  the  hands  of  friends  in  Virginia. 
The  chief's  kindness  was  well  rewarded,  and  it  was  largely  through 
his  influence  that  peace  was  finally  brought  about. 

It  was  now  too  late,  and  the  settlements  were  too  much  exhausted, 
for  another  expedition,  so  the  fall  and  winter  were  employed  by  the 
English  in  preparations  for  an  active  campaign  the  next  year  in  force 
to  crush  out  all  resistance.  In  June,  1761,  Colonel  Grant  with  an 
army  of  2,600  men,  including  a  number  of  Chickasaw  and  almost 
every  remaining  warrior  of  the  Catawba,^  set  out  from  Fort  Prince 
George.  Refusing  a  request  from  Ata-kullakulla  for  a  friendly  accom- 
modation, he  crossed  Rabun  Gap  and  advanced  rapidly  down  the 
Little  Tennessee  along  the  same  trail  taken  by  the  expedition  of  the 
previous  year.  On  June  10,  when  within  two  miles  of  Montgomery's 
battlefield,  he  encountered  the  Cherokee,  whom  he  defeated,  although 
with  considerable  loss  to  himself,  after  a  stubborn  engagement  lasting 
several  hours.  Having  repulsed  the  Indians,  he  proceeded  on  his 
way,  sending  out  detachments  to  the  outlying  settlements,  until  in 
the  course  of  a  month  he  had  destroyed  every  one  of  the  Middle 
towns,  15  in  all,  with  all  their  granaries  and  cornfields,  driven  the 
inhabitants  into  the  mountains,  and  "pushed  the  frontier  seventy 
miles  farther  to  the  west." 

The  Cherokee  were  now  reduced  to  the  greatest  extremity.  With 
some  of  their  best  towns  in  ashes,  their  fields  and  orchards  wasted  for 
two  successive  years,  their  ammunition  nearly  exhausted,  many  of 

1  Timberlake,  Memoirs,  p.  65,  1765. 

2  Catawba  reference  from  Milligan,  1763,  in  Carroll,  South  Carolina  Historical  Collections,  n,  p.  519, 1836. 


INDIANS   OF    NOKTH   CAEOLINA.  159 

their  bravest  warriors  dead,  their  people  fugitives  in  the  mountains, 
hiding  in  caves  and  Uving  Hke  beasts  upon  roots  or  killing  their  horses 
for  food,  with  the  terrible  scourge  of  smallpox  adding  to  the  miseries 
of  starvation,  and  withal  torn  by  factional  differences  which  had 
existed  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  war — it  was  impossible  for 
even  brave  men  to  resist  longer.  In  September  Ata-kullakulla,  who 
had  all  along  done  everything  in.  his  power  to  stay  the  disaffection, 
came  down  to  Charleston,  a  treaty  of  peace  was  made,  and  the  war 
was  ended.  From  an  estimated  population  of  at  least  5,000  warriors 
some  years  before,  the  Cherokee  had  now  been  reduced  to  about 
2,300  men.^ 

In  the  meantime  a  force  of  Virginians  under  Colonel  Stephen  had 
advanced  as  far  as  the  Great  Island  of  the  Holston — now  Kingsport, 
Tennessee — where  they  were  met  by  a  large  delegation  of  Cherokee, 
who  sued  for  peace,  which  was  concluded  with  them  by  Colonel 
Stephen  on  November  19,  1761,  independently  of  what  was  being 
done  in  South  Carolina.  On  the  urgent  request  of  the  chief  that  an 
officer  might  visit  their  people  for  a  short  time  to  cement  the  new 
friendship,  Lieutenant  Henry  Timberlake,  a  young  Virginian  who  had 
already  distinguished  himself  in  active  service,  volunteered  to  return 
with  them  to  their  towns,  where  he  spent  several  months.  He  after- 
ward conducted  a  delegation  of  chiefs  to  England,  where,  as  they  had 
come  without  authority  from  the  Government,  they  met  such  an  un- 
pleasant reception  that  they  returned  disgusted.^ 

On  the  conclusion  of  peace  between  England  and  France  in  1763,  by 
which  the  whole  western  territory  was  ceded  to  England,  a  great 
council  was  held  at  Augusta,  which  was  attended  by  the  chiefs  and 
principal  men  of  all  the  southern  Indians,  at  which  Captain  John 
Stuart,  superintendent  for  the  southern  tribes,  together  with  the  colo- 
nial governors  of  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Geor- 
gia, explained  fully  to  the  Indians  the  new  condition  of  affairs,  and  a 
treaty  of  mutual  peace  and  friendship  was  concluded  on  November  10 
of  that  year.^ 

Under  several  leaders,  as  Walker,  WaUen,  Smith,  and  Boon,  the  tide 
of  emigration  now  surged  across  the  mountains  in  spite  of  every  effort 
to  restrain  it,*  and  the  period  between  the  end  of  the  Cherokee  war 
and  the  opening  of  the  Revolution  is  principally  notable  for  a  number 
of  treaty  cessions  by  the  Indians,  each  in  fruitless  endeavor  to  fix  a 
permanent  barrier  between  themselves  and  the  advancing  wave  of 
white  settlement.  Chief  among  these  was  the  famous  Henderson 
purchase  in  1775,  which  included  the  whole  tract  between  the  Ken- 
tucky and  Cumberland  Rivers,  embracing  the  greater  part  of  the 
present  State  of  Kentucky.  By  these  treaties  the  Cherokee  were 
shorn  of  practically  all  their  ancient  territorial  claims  north  of  the 
present  Tennessee  hne  and  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  Savannah, 
including  much  of  their  best  hunting  range;  their  home  settlements 
were,  however,  left  still  in  their  possession.^ 

1  Figures  from  Adair,  American  Indians,  p.  227,  1775.  When  not  otherwise  noted,  this  sketch  of  the 
Cherokee  war  of  1760-61  is  compiled  chiefly  from  the  contemporary  dispatches  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine, 
supplemented  from  Hewat's  Historical  "Account  of  South  Caroliua  and  Georgia,  17*8;  with  additional 
details  from  Adair,  American  Indians;  Ramsey,  Tennessee;  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation;  North  Carolina 
Colonial  Records,  v.,  documents  and  introduction;  etc. 

2  Timberlake,  Memoirs,  p.  9  et  passim,  1765. 
a  Stevens,  Georgia,  n,  pp.  26-29,  1859. 

*  Ramsey,  Tennessee,  pp.  65-70,  1853. 

'  Royce,' Cherokee  Nation,  in  Fifth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  of  Ethnology,  pp.  146-149,  1888. 


160  INDIANS   OF   NOETH   CAROLINA. 

As  one  consequence  of  the  late  Cherokee  war,  a  royal  proclamation 
had  been  issued  in  1763,  with  a  view  of  checking  future  encroachments 
by  the  whites,  which  prohibited  any  private  land  purchases  from  the 
Indians,  or  any  granting  of  warrants  for  lands  west  of  the  sources 
of  the  streams  flowing  into  the  Atlantic.^  In  1768,  on  the  appeal  of 
the  Indians  themselves,  the  British  superintendent  for  the  southern 
tribes.  Captain  John  Stuart,  had  negotiated  a  treaty  at  Hard  Labor, 
in  South  Carohna,  by  which  Kanawha  and  New  Rivers,  along  their 
whole  course  downward  from  the  North  Carohna  hne,  were  fixed  as 
the  boundary  between  the  Cherokee  and  the  whites  in  that  direction. 
In  two  years,  however,  so  many  borderers  had  crossed  into  the  Indian 
country,  where  they  were  evidently  determined  to  remain,  that  it  was 
found  necessary  to  substitute  another  treaty,  by  which  the  line  was 
made  to  run  due  south  from  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha  to  the  Holston, 
thus  cutting  off  from  the  Cherokee  almost  the  whole  of  their  hunting 
grounds  in  Virginia  and  West  Virginia.  Two  years  later,  in  1772, 
the  Virginians  demanded  a  further  cession,  by  which  everything  east 
of  Kentucky  River  was  surrendered;  and  finally,  on  March  17,  1775, 
the  great  Henderson  purchase  was  consummated,  including  the  whole 
tract  between  the  Kentucky  and  Cumberland  Rivers.  By  this  last 
cession  the  Cherokee  were  at  last  cut  off  from  Ohio  River  and  aU  their 
rich  Kentucky  hunting  grounds.^ 

While  these  transactions  were  called  treaties,  they  were  reaUy 
forced  upon  the  native  proprietors,  who  resisted  each  in  turn  and 
finally  signed  only  under  protest  and  on  most  solemn  assurances  that 
no  further  demands  would  be  made.  Even  before  the  purchases  were 
made,  intruders  in  large  numbers  had  settled  upon  each  of  the  tracts 
in  question,  and  they  refused  to  withdraw  across  the  boundaries  now 
established,  but  remained  on  one  pretext  or  another  to  await  a  new 
adjustment.  This  was  particularly  the  case  on  Watauga  and  upper 
Holston  Rivers  in  northeastern  Tennessee,  where  the  settlers,  finding 
themselves  still  within  the  Indian  boundary  and  being  resolved  to 
remain,  effected  a  temporary  lease  from  the  Cherokee  in  1772.  As 
was  expected  and  intended,  the  lease  became  a  permanent  occupancy, 
the  nucleus  settlement  of  the  future  State  of  Tennessee.^ 

Just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  the  botanist,  William 
Bartram,  made  an  extended  tour  of  the  Cherokee  country,  and  has  left 
us  a  pleasant  account  of  the  hospitable  character  and  friendly  dispo- 
sition of  the  Indians  at  that  time.  He  gives  a  fist  of  forty-three  towns 
then  inhabited  by  the  tribe.* 

The  opening  of  the  great  Revolutionary  struggle  in  1776  found  the 
Indian  tribes  almost  to  a  man  ranged  on  the  British  side  against  the 
Americans.  There  was  good  reason  for  this.  Since  the  fall  of 
the  French  power  the  British  Government  had  stood  to  them  as  the 
sole  representative  of  authority,  and  the  guardian  and  protector  of 
their  rights  against  constant  encroaclmients  by  the  American  border- 
ers. Licensed  British  traders  were  resident  in  every  tribe  and  many 
had  intermarried  and  raised  famihes  among  them,  while  the  border 
man  looked  upon  the  Indian  only  as  a  cumberer  of  the  earth.  The 
British  superintendents.  Sir  Wilham  Johnson  in  the  north  and  Captain 

1  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation,  op.  cit.,  p.  149;  Ramsey,  Tennessee,  p.  71,  1853 

>  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  pp.  93-122;  Royce,  op.  cit.,  pp.  146-149. 

»  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  pp.  109-122;  Royce,  op.  cit.,  p.  146  et  passim. 

«  Bartram,  Travels,  pp.  366-372, 1792. 


INDIANS    OF    NOETH    CAKOLINA.  161 

John  Stuart  in  the  south,  they  knew  as  generous  friends,  while  hardly 
a  warrior  of  them  all  was  without  some  old  cause  of  resentment  against 
their  backwoods  neighbors.  They  felt  that  the  only  barrier  between 
themselves  and  national  extinction  was  in  the  strength  of  the  British 
Government,  and  when  the  final  severance  came  they  threw  their 
whole  power  into  the  British  scale.  They  were  encouraged  in  this 
resolution  by  presents  of  clothing  and  other  goods,  with  promises  of 
plunder  from  the  settlements  and  hopes  of  recovering  a  portion  of  their 
lost  territories.  The  British  Government  having  determined,  as  early 
as  June,  1775,  to  call  in  the  Indians  against  the  Americans,  supphes 
of  hatchets,  guns,  and  ammunition  were  issued  to  the  warriors  of  all 
the  tribes  from  the  lakes  to  the  gulf,  and  bounties  were  offered  for 
American  scalps  brought  in  to  the  commanding  officer  at  Detroit  or 
Oswego.^  Even  the  Six  Nations,  who  had  agreed  in  solemn  treaty  to 
remain  neutral,  were  won  over  by  these  persuasions.  In  August,  1775, 
an  Indian  "talk"  was  intercepted  in  which  the  Cherokse  assured 
Cameron,  the  resident  agent,  that  their  warriors,  enlisted  in  the 
service  of  the  King,  were  ready  at  a  signal  to  fall  upon  the  back  settle- 
ments of  Carohna  and  Georgia.^  Circular  letters  were  sent  out  to  all 
those  persons  in  the  back  country  supposed  to  be  of  royahst  sympa- 
thies, directing  them  to  repair  to  Cameron's  headquarters  in  the 
Cherokee  country  to  join  the  Indians  in  the  invasion  of  the  settle- 
ments.^ 

In  June,  1776,  a  British  fleet  under  command  of  Sir  Peter  Parker, 
with  a  large  naval  and  mihtary  force,  attacked  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  both  by  land  and  sea,  and  simultaneously  a  body  of  Chero- 
kee, led  by  Tories  in  Indian  disguise,  came  down  from  the  mountains 
and  ravaged  the  exposed  frontier  of  South  Carohna,  kilhng  and  burn- 
ing as  they  went.  After  a  gallant  defense  by  the  garrison  at  Charles- 
ton the  British  were  repulsed,  whereupon  their  Indian  and  Tory 
aUies  withdrew.* 

About  the  same  time  the  warning  came  from  Nancy  Ward,  a 
noted  friendly  Indian  woman  of  great  authority  in  the  Cherokee 
Nation,  that  seven  hundred  Cherokee  warriors  were  advancing  in  two 
divisions  against  the  Watauga  and  Holston  settlements,  with  the 
design  of  destrojring  everything  as  far  up  as  New  River.  The  Holston 
men  from  both  sides  of  the  Virginia  line  hastily  collected  under 
Captain  Thompson  and  marched  against  the  Indians,  whom  they  met 
and  defeated  with  signal  loss  after  a  hard-fought  battle  near  the  Long 
Island  in  the  Holston  (Kingsport,  Tennessee),  on  August  20.  The 
next  day  the  second  division  of  the  Cherokee  attacked  the  fort  at 
Watauga,  garrisoned  by  only  forty  men  under  Captain  James  Robert- 
son, but  was  repulsed  without  loss  to  the  defenders,  the  Indians 
withdrawing  on  news  of  the  result  at  the  Long  Island.  A  Mrs.  Bean 
and  a  boy  named  Moore  were  captured  on  this  occasion  and  carried  to 
one  of  the  Cherokee  towns  in  the  neighborhood  of  Tellico,  where  the 
boy  was  burned,  but  the  woman,  alter  she  had  been  condemned  to 
death  and  everything  was  in  readiness  for  the  tragedy,  was  rescued  by 
the  interposition  of  Nancy  Ward.     Two  other  Cherokee  detachments 

1  Ramsey,  Tennessee,  pp.  143-150,  1853;  Monette,  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  I,  pp.  400,  401,  431,  432, and 
n,  pp.  33,  34,  1846;  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  I,  pp.  27&-281,  and  n,  pp.  1-6,  1SS9. 

2  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  p.  143. 

3  Quoted  from  Stedman,  in  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  p.  162. 
*  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  p.  162. 

75321°— S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 11 


162  INDIANS  OP  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

moved  against  the  upper  settlements  at  the  same  time.  One  of  these, 
finding  all  the  inhabitants  securely  shut  up  in  forts,  returned  without 
doing  much  damage.  The  other  ravaged  the  country  on  Clinch  Kiver 
almost  to  its  head,  and  killed  a  man  and  wounded  others  at  Black's 
station,  now  Abingdon,  Virginia.^ 

At  the  same  time  that  one  part  of  the  Cherokee  were  raiding  the 
Tennessee  settlements  others  came  down  upon  the  frontiers  of  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia.  On  the  upper  Catawba  they  killed  many  peopls, 
but  the  whites  took  refuge  m  the  stockade  stations,  where  tney 
defended  themselves  until  General  Rutherford  came  to  their 
relief.  In  Georgia  an  attempt  had  been  made  by  a  small  party  of 
Americans  to  seize  Cameron,  who  lived  in  one  of  the  Cherokee  towns 
with  his  Indian  wife,  but,  as  was  to  have  been  expected,  the  Indians 
interfered,  killing  several  of  theparty  and  capturing  others,  who  were 
afterward  tortured  to  death.  Tlie  Cherokee  of  the  Upper  and  Middle 
towns,  with  some  Creeks  and  Tories  of  the  vicinity,  led  by  Cameron 
himself,  at  once  began  ravaging  the  South  Carolina  border,  burning 
houses,  driving  off  cattle,  and  killing  men,  women,  and  children 
without  distinction,  until  the  whole  country  was  in  a  wild  panic,  the 
people  abandoning  their  farms  to  seek  safety  in  the  garrisoned  forts. 
On  one  occasion  an  attack  by  two  hundred  of  the  enemy,  half  of 
them  bein^'  Tories,  stripped  and  painted  like  Indians,  was  repulsed 
by  the  timely  arrival  oi  a  body  of^  Americans,  who  succeeded  in  cap- 
turing thirteen  of  the  Tories.  The  invasion  extended  into  Georgia, 
where  also  property  was  destroyed  and  the  inhabitants  were  driven 
from  their  homes. ^ 

Realizing  their  common  danger,  the  border  States  determined  to 
strike  such  a  concerted  blow  at  the  Cherokee  as  should  render  them 
passive  while  the  struggle  with  England  continued.  In  accord  with 
this  plan  of  cooperation  the  frontier  forces  were  quickly  mobilized  and 
in  the  summer  of  1776  four  expeditions  were  equipped  from  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  to  enter  the  Cherokee 
territory  simultaneously  from  as  many  different  directions. 

In  August  of  that  year  the  army  of  North  Carolina,  2,400  strong, 
under  General  Griffith  Rutherford,  crossed  the  Blue  Ridge  at  Swan- 
nanoa  Gap,  and  following  the  main  trail  almost  along  the  present  line 
of  the  railroad,  struck  the  first  Indian  town,  Stika'yl,  or  Stecoee,  on 
the  Tuckasegee,  near  the  present  Whittier.  The  inhabitants  having 
fled,  the  soldiers  burned  the  town,  together  with  an  unfinished  town- 
house  ready  for  the  roof,  cut  down  the  standing  corn,  kiUed  one  or 
two  straggling  Indians  and  then  proceeded  on  their  mission  of  destruc- 
tion. Every  town  upon  Oconaluftee,  Tuckasegee,  and  the  upper 
part  of  Little  Tennessee,  and  on  Hiwassee  to  below  the  junction  of 
Valley  River — thirty-six  towns  in  aU — was  destroyed  in  turn,  the  corn 
cut  down  or  trampled  under  the  hoofs  of  the  stock  driven  into  the 
fields  for  that  purpose,  and  the  stock  itself  killed  or  carried  off. 
Before  such  an  overwhelming  force,  supplemented  as  it  was  by  three 
others  simultaneously  advancing  from  other  directions,  the  Cherokee 
made  but  poor  resistance,  and  fled  with  their  women  and  children 
into  the  fastnesses  of  the  Great  Smoky  Mountains,  leaving  their 
desolated  fields  and  smoking  towns  behind  them.     As  was  usual  in 

1  Ramsey,  Tennessee,  pp.  150-159,  1853. 

»  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  I,  pp.  293-297,  1889. 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA,  163 

Indian  wars,  the  actual  number  killed  or  taken  was  small,  but  the 
destruction  of  property  was  beyond  calculation.  At  Sugartown 
(Kulsetsi'yl,  east  of  the  present  Franklin)  one  detachment,  sent  to 
destro}^  it,  was  surprised,  and  escaped  only  through  the  aid  of  another 
force  sent  to  its  rescue.  Rutherford,  himself,  while  proceeding  to  the 
destruction  of  the  Hiwassee  towns,  encountered  the  Indians  drawn 
up  to  oppose  his  progress  in  the  Waya  Gap  of  the  Nantahala  Moun- 
tains, and  one  of  the  hardest  fights  of  the  campaign  resulted,  the 
soldiers  losing  over  forty  killed  and  wounded,  although  the  Cherokee 
were  finally  repulsed.  One  of  the  Indians  killed  on  this  occasion  was 
afterwards  discovered  to  be  a  woman,  painted  and  armed  like  a 
warrior.^ 

On  September  26  the  South  Carolina  army,  1,860  strong,  under 
Colonel  Andrew  WiUiamspn,  and  including  a  number  of  Catawba 
Indians,  effected  a  junction  with  Rutherford's  forces  on  Hiwassee 
River,  near  the  present  Murphj^,  North  Carolina.  It  had  been 
expected  that  Williamson  would  join  the  northern  army  at  Cowee, 
on  the  Little  Tennessee,  when  they  would  proceed  together  against 
the  western  towns,  but  he  had  been  delayed,  and  the  work  of  destruc- 
tion in  that  direction  was  already  completed,  so  that  after  a  short 
rest  each  army  returned  home  along  the  route  by  which  it  had  come. 

The  South  Carolina  men  had  centered  by  different  detachments  in 
the  lower  Cherokee  towns  about  the  head  of  Savannah  River,  burning 
one  town  after  another,  cutting  down  the  peach  trees  and  ripened 
corn,  and  having  an  occasional  brush  with  the  Cherokee,  who  hung 
constantly  upon  their  flanks.  At  ths  town  of  Seneca,  near  which  they 
encountered  Cameron  with  his  Indians  and  Tories,  they  had  destroyed 
six  thousand  bushels  of  corn,  besides  other  food  stores,  after  burning 
all  the  houses,  the  Indians  having  retreated  after  a  stout  resistance. 
The  most  serious  encounter  had  taken  place  at  Tomassee,  where 
several  whites  and  sixteen  Cherokee  were  killed,  the  latter  being  all 
scalped  afterwards.  Having  completed  the  ruin  of  the  Lower  towns, 
WiUiamson  had  crossed  over  Rabun  Gap  and  descended  into  the 
valley  of  the  Little  Tennessee  to  cooperate  with  Rutherford  in  the 
destruction  of  the  Middle  and  Valley  t©wns.  As  the  army  advanced 
every  house  in  every  settlement  met  was  burned — ninety  houses  in 
one  settlement  alone —  and  detachments  were  sent  into  the  fields 
to  destroy  the  corn,  of  which  the  smallest  town  was  estimated  to 
have  two  hundred  acres,  besides  potatoes,  beans,  and  orchards  of 
peach  trees.  The  stores  of  dressed  deerskins  and  other  valuables 
were  carried  off.  Everything  was  swept  clean,  and  the  Indians  who 
were  not  kiUed  or  taken  were  driven,  homeless  refugees,  into  the 
dark  recesses  of  Nantahala  or  painfully  made  their  way  across  to  the 
Overhill  towns  in  Tennessee,  wnich  were  already  menaced  by  another 
invasion  from  the  north.- 

In  July,  while  Williamson  was  engaged  on  the  upper  Savannah, 
a  force  of  two  hundred  Georgians,  under  Colonel  Samuel  Jack,  had 
marched  in  the  same  direction  and  succeeded  in  burning  two  towns  on 

1  See  No.  110,  "Incidents  of  Personal  Herosim."  For  Rutherford's  expedition,  see  Moore,  Rutherford's 
Expedition,  in  North  Carolina  University  Magazine,  February,  1888;  Swain,  Sketch  of  the  Indian  War 
in  1776,  ibid.,  May,  1852,  reprinted  in  Historical  Magazine,  November,  1867;  Ramsey,  Tennessee,  p.  164, 
1853;  Roosevelt,  Winnmg  the  West,  I,  pp.  294-302,  1889,  etc. 

2  For  WOliamson's  expedition  see  Ross  Journal,  with  Rockwell's  notes,  in  Historical  Magazine,  October, 
1876;  Swain,  Sketch  of  the  Indian  War  in  1776,  in  North  Carolina  University  Magazine  for  May,  1852, 
reprinted  in  Historical  Magazine,  November,  1867;  Jones,  Georgia,  n,  p.  246  et  passim,  1883;  Ramsey,  Ten- 
lessee,  163-164,  1853;  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  i,  pp.  296-303,  1889. 


164  INDIAISrS   OF    NORTH   CAEOLINA. 

the  heads  of  Chattahoochee  and  Tugaloo  Rivers,  destroying  the  com 
and  driving  off  the  cattle,  without  the  loss  of  a  man,  the  Cherokee 
having  apparently  fallen  back  to  concentrate  for  resistance  in  the 
mountains.^ 

The  Virginia  army,  about  two  thousand  strong,  under  Colonel 
William  Christian,  rendezvoused  in  August  at  the  Long  Island  of 
the  Holston,  the  regular  gathering  place  on  the  Tennessee  side  of 
the  mountains.  Among  them  were  several  hundred  men  from  North 
Carolina,  with  all  who  could  be  spared  from  the  garrisons  on  the 
Tennessee  side.  Paying  but  little  attention  to  small  bodies  of  Indi- 
ans, who  tried  to  divert  attention  or  to  dela}'^  progress  by  flank  attacks, 
they  advanced  steadily,  but  cautiously,  along  the  great  Indian  war- 
path toward  the  crossing  of  the  French  Broad,  where  a  strong 
force  of  Cherokee  was  reported  to  be  in  waiting  to  dispute  their  pas- 
sage. Just  before  reaching  the  river  tlie  Indians  sent  a  Tory  trader 
with  a  flag  of  truce  to  discuss  terms.  Knowing  that  his  own  strength 
was  overwhelming,  Christian  allov/ed  the  envoy  to  go  through  the 
whole  camp  and  then  sent  him  back  with  the  message  that  there  could 
be  no  terms  until  the  Cherokee  towns  had  been  destroyed.  Arriving 
at  the  ford,  he  kindled  fires  and  made  all  preparations  as  if  intending 
to  camp  there  for  several  days.  As  soon  as  night  fell,  however,  he 
secretly  drew  off  half  his  force  and  crossed  the  river  lower  down,  to 
come  upon  the  Indians  in  their  rear.  This  was  a  work  of  great  diffl- 
culty,  as  the  water  was  so  deep  that  it  came  up  almost  to  the  shoulders 
of  the  men,  while  the  current  was  so  rapid  that  they  were  obliged  to 
support  each  other  four  abreast  to  prevent  being  swept  off  their  feet. 
However,  they  kept  their  guns  and  powder  dry.  On  reaching  the 
other  side  they  were  surprised  to  find  no  enemy.  Disheartened  at  the 
strength  of  the  invasion,  the  Indians  had  fled  without  even  a  show  of 
resistance.  It  is  probable  that  nearly  all  their  men  and  resources  had 
been  drawn  off  to  oppose  the  Carolina  forces  on  their  eastern  border, 
and  the  few  who  remained  felt  themselves  unequal  to  the  contest. 

Advancmg  without  opposition.  Christian  reached  the  towns  on 
Little  Tennessee  early  in  November,  and,  finding  them  deserted,  pro- 
ceeded to  destroy  them,  one  after  another,  with  their  outlying  fields. 
The  few  lingering  warriors  discovered  were  all  killed.  In  the  mean- 
time messages  had  been  sent  out  to  the  farther  towns,  in  response  to 
which  several  of  their  head  men  came  into  C^hristian's  camp  to  treat 
for  peace.  On  their  agreement  to  surrender  all  the  prisoners  and 
captured  stock  in  their  hands  and  to  cede  to  the  whites  all  the  disputed 
territory  occupied  by  the  Tennessee  settlements,  as  soon  as  represent- 
atives of  the  whole  tribe  could  be  assembled  in  the  spring.  Christian 
consented  to  suspend  hostilities  and  retire  without  doing  further 
injury.  An  exception  was  made  against  Tuskegee  and  another  town, 
which  had  been  concerned  in  the  burning  of  the  boy  taken  from 
Watauga,  already  noted,  and  these  two  were  reduced  to  ashes.  The 
sacred  "peace  town,"  Echota,  had  not  been  molested.  Most  of  the 
troops  were  disbanded  on  their  return  to  the  Long  Island,  but  a 
part  remained  and  built  Fort  Patrick  Henry,  where  they  went  into 
winter  quarters.^ 

1  Jones,  op.  cit.,  p.  246;  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  p.  163;  Roosevelt,  op.  cit.,  p.  295. 

2  For  the  Virginia-Tennessee  expedition  see  Roosevelt,  Winnint;  of  the  West,  i,  pp.  303-305, 18S9;  Ramsey, 
Tennessee,  pp.  165-170,  1853. 


INDIANS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA.  165 

From  incidental  notices  in  narratives  written  by  some  of  the  partici- 
pants we  obtain  interesting  side  lights  on  the  merciless  character  of  this 
old  border  warfare.  In  addition  to  the  ordinary  destruction  of  war — 
the  burning  of  towns,  the  wasting  of  fruitful  fields,  and  the  killing  of 
the  defenders — we  find  that  every  Indian  warrior  killed  was  scalped, 
when  opportunity  permitted;  women,  as  well  as  men,  were  shot  down 
and  afterward  "helped  to  their  end";  and  prisoners  taken  were  put 
up  at  auction  as  slaves  when  not  killed  on  the  spot.  Near  Tomassee 
a  small  party  of  Indians  was  surrounded  and  enthely  cut  off.  "Six- 
teen were  found  dead  in  the  valley  when  the  battle  ended.  These 
our  men  scalped."     In  a  personal  encounter — 

a  stout  Indian  engaged  a  sturdy  young  white  man,  who  was  a  good  bruiser  and 
expert  at  gouging.  After  breaking  their  guns  on  each  other  they  laid  hold  of  one 
another,  when  the  cracker  had  his  thumbs  instantly  in  tiie  fellow's  eyes,  who  roared 
and  cried  "canaly" — enough,  in  EngHsh.  "Damn  you,"  says  the  white  man,  "you 
can  never  have  enough  while  you  are  alive."  He  then  threw  him  down,  set  his  foot 
upon  his  head,  and  scalped  Mm  alive ;  then  took  up  one  of  the  broken  guns  and  knocked 
out  his  brains.  It  would  have  been  fun  if  he  had  let  the  latter  action  alone  and  sent 
him  home  without  his  nightcap,  to  tell  his  countrymen  how  he  had  been  treated. 

Later  on  some  of  the  same  detachment  (Williamson's),  seeing  a 
woman  ahead,  fired  on  her  and  brought  her  down  with  two  serious 
wounds,  but  yet  able  to  speak.  After  getting  what  information 
she  could  give  them,  through  a  hah-breed  interpreter,  "the  informer 
being  unable  to  travel,  some  of  our  men  favored  her  so  far  that  they 
killed  her  there,  to  put  her  out  of  pain."  A  few  days  later  "a  party 
of  Colonel  Thomas's  regiment,  being  on  a  hunt  of  plunder,  or  some 
such  thing,  found  an  Indian  squaw  and  took  her  prisoner;  she  being 
lame,  was  unable  to  go  with  her  friends.  She  was  so  suUen  that  she 
would,  as  an  old  saying  is,  neither  lead  nor  drive,  and  by  their  account 
she  died  in  their  hands;  but  I  suppose  they  helped  her  to  her  end." 
At  this  place — on  the  Hiwassee — they  found  a  large  town,  having 
"upwards  of  ninety  houses,  and  large  quantities  of  corn,"  and  "we 
encamped  among  the  corn,  where  we  had  a  great  plenty  of  corn,  peas, 
beans,  potatoes,  and  hogs,"  and  on  the  next  day  "we  were  ordered 
to  assemble  in  companies  to  spread  through  the  town  to  destroy, 
cut  down,  and  burn  all  the  vegetables  belonging  to  our  heathen 
enemies,,  which  was  no  small  undertaking,  they  being  so  plentifully 
supphed."  Continuing  to  another  town,  "we  engaged  in  our  former 
labor,  that  is,  cutting  and  destroying  all  things  that  might  be  of 
advantage  to  our  enemies.  Finding  here  curious  builcUngs,  great 
apple  trees,  and  whit.e-man-like  improvements,  these  we  destroyed."  ^ 

While  crossing  over  the  mountains  Rutherford's  men  approached  a 
house  belonging  to  a  trader,  when  one  of  his  negro  slaves  ran  out  and 
"was  shot  by  the  Reverend  James  IlaU,  the  chaplain,  as  he  ran,  mis- 
taking him  for  an  Indian."  ^  Soon  after  they  captured  two  women 
and  a  boy.  It  was  proposed  to  auction  them  off  at  once  to  the  highest 
bidder,  and  when  one  of  the  officers  protested  that  the  matter  should 
be  left  to  the  disposition  of  Congress,  "the  greater  part  swore  bloodily 
that  if  they  were  not  sold  for  slaves  upon  the  spot  they  would  kiU  and 
scalp  them  immediately."  The  prisoners  were  accordingly  sold  for 
about  twelve  hundred  dollars.^ 

1  Ross  Journal,  in  Historical  Magazine,  October,  1867. 

2  Swain,  Sketch  of  the  Indian  War  of  1776,  in  Historical  Magazine,  November,  1867. 
8  Moore's  narrative,  in  North  Carolina  University  Magazine,  February,  1888. 


166  INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

At  the  Wolf  Hills  settlement,  now  Abingdon,  Virginia,  a  party 
sent  out  from  the  fort  returned  with  the  scalps  of  eleven  warriors. 
Having  recovered  the  books  which  their  minister  had  left  behind  in 
his  oabin,  they  held  a  service  of  prayer  for  their  success,  after  which 
the  fresh  scalps  were  hung  upon  a  pole  above  the  gate  of  the  fort. 
The  barbarous  custom  of  scalping  to  which  the  border  men  had 
become  habituated  in  the  earlier  wars  was  practiced  upon  every 
occasion  when  opportunity  presented,  at  least  upon  the  bodies  of 
warriors,  and  the  South  CaroHna  Legislature  offered  a  bounty  of 
seventy-five  pounds  for  every  warrior's  scalp,  a  higher  reward,  how- 
ever, being  offeied  for  prisoners.^  In  spite  of  all  the  bitterness  which 
the  war  aroused  there  seems  to  be  no  record  of  any  scalping  of  Tories 
or  other  whites  by  the  Americans, 

The  effect  upon  the  Cherokee  of  this  irruption  of  more  than  six 
thousand  armed  enemies  into  their  territory  was  well  nigh  paralyzing. 
More  than  fifty  of  their  towns  had  been  burned,  their  orchards  cut 
down,  their  fields  wasted,  their  cattle  and  horses  killed  or  driven  off, 
their  stores  of  buckskin  and  other  personal  property  plundered. 
Hundreds  of  their  people  had  been  killed  or  had  died  of  starvation 
and  exposure,  others  were  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  Americans, 
and  some  had  been  sold  into  slavery.  Those  who  had  escaped  were 
fugitives  in  the  mountains,  hving  upon  acorns,  chestnuts,  and  wild 
game,  or  were  refugees  with  the  British.^  From  the  Virginia  fine  to 
the  Chattahoochee  the  chain  of  destruction  was  complete.  For  the 
present,  at  least,  any  further  resistance  was  hopeless,  and  they  were 
compelled  to  sue  for  peace. 

By  a  treaty  concluded  at  De  Witts  Corners  in  South  Carolina  on 
May  20,  1777,  the  first  ever  made  with  the  new  States,  the  Lower 
Cherokee  surrendered  to  the  conqueror  all  of  their  remaining  terri- 
tory in  South  CaroUna,  excepting  a  narrow  strip  along  the  western 
boundary.  Just  two  months  later,  on  July  20,  by  treaty  at  the  Long 
Island,  as  had  been  arranged  by  Christian  in  the  preceding  fall,  the 
Middle  and  Upper  Cherokee  ceded  everything  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge, 
together  with  all  the  disputed  territory  on  the  Watauga,  Nolichucky, 
upper  Holston,  and  New  Rivers.  By  this  second  treaty  also  Captain 
James  Robertson  was  appointed  agent  for  the  Cherokee,  to  reside 
at  Echota,  to  watch  their  movements,  recover  any  captured  property, 
and  prevent  their  correspondence  with  persons  unfriendly  to  the 
American  cause.  As  the  Federal  Government  was  not  yet  in  perfect 
operation,  these  treaties  were  negotiated  by  commissioners  from 
the  four  States  adjoining  the  Cherokee  country,  the  territory  thus 
acquired  being  parceled  out  to  South  CaroHna,  North  CaroHna,  and 
Tennessee.^ 

While  the  Cherokee  Nation  had  thus  been  compelled  to  a  treaty  of 
peace,  a  very  considerable  portion  of  the  tribe  was  irreconcilably  hos- 
tile to  the  Americans  and  refused  to  be  a  party  to  the  late  cessions, 
especially  on  the  Tennessee  side.  Although  Ata-kullakulla  sent  word 
that  he  was  ready  with  five  hundred  young  warriors  to  fight  for  the 
Americans  against  the  EngHsh  or  Indian  enemy  whenever  called  upon, 

1  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  i,  pp.  285, 290, 303, 1889. 

2  About  five  hundred  sought  refuge  with  Stuart,  the  British  Indian  superintendent  in  Florida,  where 
they  were  fed  for  some  time  at  the  expense  of  the  British  Government  (Jones,  Georgia,  ii,  p.  246,  18S3). 

3  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation,  in  Fifth  Ann.  Rep.  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  150  and  map,  1888;  Ramsey, 
Temiessee,  pp.  172-174, 1853;  Stevens,  Georgia,  n,  p.  144,  1859;  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  i,  p, 
306, 1889. 


INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAEOLINA.  167 

Dragging-canoe  (Tsiyu-gtinsi'nl),  who  had  led  the  opposition  against 
the  Watauga  settlements,  declared  that  he  would  hold  fast  to  Cam- 
eron's talk  and  continue  to  make  war  upon  those  who  had  taken  his 
hunting  grounds.  Under  his  leadership  some  hundreds  of  the  most 
warlike  and  implacable  warriors  of  the  tribe,  with  their  families, 
drew  out  from  the  Upper  and  ^'liddle  towns  and  moved  far  down  upon 
Tennessee  River,  where  they  estabhshed  new  settlements  on  Chick- 
amauga  Creek,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  present  Chattanooga. 
The  locality  appears  to  have  been  already  a  rendezvous  for  a  sort  of 
Indian  banditti,  who  sometimes  plundered  boats  disabled  in  the 
rapids  at  this  point  while  descending  the  river.  Under  the  name 
''Chickamaugas"  they  soon  became  noted  for  their  uncompromising 
and  never-ceasing  hostility.  In  1782,  in  consequence  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  towns  by  Sevier  and  Campbell,  they  abandoned  this 
location  and  moved  farther  down  the  river,  where  they  built  what 
were  afterwards  known  as  the  ''five  lower  towns,"  viz.  Running  Water, 
Nickajack,  Long  Island,  Crow  town,  and  Lookout  Mountain  town. 
These  were  all  on  the  extreme  western  Cherokee  frontier,  near  where 
Tennessee  River  crosses  the  State  line,  the  first  three  being  within 
the  present  limits  of  Tennessee,  while  Lookout  Mountain  town  and 
Crow  town  were,  respectively,  in  the  adjacent  corners  of  Georgia  and 
Alabama.  Their  population  was  recruited  from  Creeks,  Shawano,  and 
white  Tories  until  they  were  estimated  at  a  thousand  warriors. 
Here  they  remained,  a  constant  thorn  in  the  side  of  Tennessee,  until 
their  towns  were  destroyed  in  1794.^ 

The  expatriated  Lower  Cherokee  also  removed  to  the  farthest  west- 
ern border  of  their  tribal  territory,  where  they  might  hope  to  be 
secure  from  encroachment  for  a  time  at  least,  and  built  new  towns  for 
themselves  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Coosa.  Twenty  years  after- 
ward Hawkins  found  the  population  of  Willstown,  in  extreme  western 
Georgia,  entirely  made  up  of  refugees  from  the  Savannah,  and  the 
children  so  famihar  from  their  parents  with  stories  of  Williamson's 
invasion  that  they  ran  screaming  from  the  face  of  a  white  man.^ 

In  April,  1777,  the  Legislature  of  North  Carohna,  of  which  Tennes- 
see was  still  a  part,  authorized  bounties  of  land  in  the  new  territory 
to  all  able-bodied  men  who  should  volunteer  against  the  remaining 
hostile  Cherokee.  Under  this  act  companies  of  rangers  were  kept 
along  the  exposed  border  to  cut  off  raiding  parties  of  Indians  and  to 
protect  the  steady  advance  of  the  pioneers,  with  the  result  that  the 
Tennessee  settlements  enjoyed  a  brief  respite  and  M'ere  even  able  to 
send  some  assistance  to  their  bretliren  in  Kentucky,  who  were  sorely 
pressed  by  the  Shawano  and  otiier  northern  tribes.^ 

The  war  between  England  and  the  colonies  still  continued,  how- 
ever, and  the  British  Government  was  unremitting  in  its  effort  to 
secure  the  active  assistance  of  the  Indians.  With  the  Creelcs  raiding 
the  Georgia  and  South  Carohna  frontier,  and  with  a  British  agent, 
Colonel  Brown,  and  a  number  of  Tory  refugees  regularly  domiciled 
at  Chickamauga,*  it  was  impossible  for  the  Cherokee  long  to  remain 

1  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  pp.  171-177,  185-1S6,  610  et  passim;  Royce,  op.  cit.,  p.  150;  Campbell  letter,  1782, 
and  other  documents  in  Virginia  State  papers,  in,  pp.  271,  571,  599, 1883,  and  iv,  pp.  118,  286,  1S81;  Blount 
letter,  January  11,  1793,  American  State  Papers:  Indian  Affairs,  i,  p.  431,  1832.  Campbell  says  they 
abandoned  their  first  location  on  account  of  the  invasion  from  Tennessee.  Governor  Blount  says  they 
left  on  account  of  witches. 

2  Ilawkms,  manuscript  journal,  1796,  with  Georgia  Historical  Society. 

3  Ramsey,  Tennessee,  pp.  174-178, 1853. 

<  Campbell  letter,  1782,  Vii-ginia  State  Papers,  in,  p.  271, 1883. 


168  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

q^uiet.  In  the  spring  of  1779  the  warning  came  from  Robertson,  sta- 
tioned at  Echota,  that  three  hundred  warriors  from  Chickamauga  had 
started  against  the  back  settlements  of  North  Carohna.  Without  a 
day's  delay  the  States  of  North  Carolina  (including  Tennessee)  and 
Virginia  united  to  send  a  strong  force  of  volunteers  against  them  under 
command  of  Colonels  Shelby  and  Montgomery.  Descending  the  Hol- 
ston  in  April  in  a  fleet  of  canoes  built  for  the  occasion,  they  took  the 
Chickamauga  towns  so  completely  by  surprise  that  the  few  warriors 
remaining  fled  to  the  mountains  without  attempting  to  give  battle. 
Several  were  killed,  Chickamauga  and  the  outlying  villages  were 
burned,  twenty  thousand  bushels  of  corn  were  destroyed,  and  large 
numbers  of  horses  and  cattle  were  captured,  together  with  a  great 
quantity  of  goods  sent  by  the  British  Governor  Hamilton  at  Detroit 
for  distribution  to  the  Indians.  The  success  of  this  expedition  frus- 
trated the  execution  of  a  project  by  Hamilton  for  uniting  all  the 
northern  and  southern  Indians,  to  be  assisted  by  British  regulars,  in 
a  concerted  attack  along  the  whole  American  frontier.  On  learning, 
through  runners,  of  the  blow  that  had  befallen  them,  the  Chickamauga 
warriors  gave  up  all  idea  of  invading  the  settlements  and  returned 
to  their  wasted  villages.^  They,  as  well  as  the  Creeks,  however,  kept 
in  constant  communication  with  the  British  commander  in  Savannah. 
In  this  year  also  a  delegation  of  Cherokee  visited  the  Ohio  towns  to 
offer  condolences  on  the  death  of  the  noted  Delaware  chief,  White- 
eyes.^ 

In  the  early  spring  of  1780  a  large  company  of  emigrants  under 
Colonel  John  Donelson  descended  the  Holston  and  the  Tennessee  to 
the  Ohio,  whence  they  ascended  the  Cumberland,  effected  a  junction 
with  another  party  under  Captain  James  Robertson,  which  had  just 
arrived  by  a  toilsome  overland  route,  and  made  the  first  settlement 
on  the  present  site  of  NashviUe.  In  passing  the  Chickamauga 
towns  they  had  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  hostile  Cherokee,  who  pur- 
sued them  for  a  considerable  distance  beyond  the  whirlpool  known 
as  the  Suck,  where  the  river  breaks  through  the  mountain.  The 
family  of  a  man  named  Stuart  being  infected  with  the  smallpox, 
his  boat  dropped  behind,  and  all  on  board,  twenty-eight  in  number, 
were  IdUed  or  taken  by  the  Indians,  their  cries  being  distinctly 
heard  by  their  friends  ahead  who  were  unable  to  help  them.  Another 
boat  having  run  upon  the  rocks,  the  three  women  in  it,  one  of  whom 
had  become  a  mother  the  night  before,  threw  the  cargo  into  the 
river,  and  then,  jumping  into  the  water,  succeeded  in  pushing  the 
boat  into  the  current  while  the  husband  of  one  of  them  kept  the 
Indians  at  bay  with  his  rifle.  The  infant  was  Idlled  in  the  confusion. 
Three  cowards  attempted  to  escape,  without  thought  of  their  com- 
panions. One  was  drowned  in  the  river;  the  other  two  were  captured 
and  carried  to  Chickamauga,  where  one  was  burned  and  the  other 
was  ransomed  by  a  trader.  The  rest  went  on  their  way  to  found 
the  capital  of  a  new  commonwealth.^  As  if  in  retributive  justice, 
the  smallpox  broke  out  in  the  Chickamauga  Band  in  consequence  of 
the  capture  of  Stuart's  family,  causing  the  death  of  a  great  number.* 

'  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  pp.  186-188;  Roosevelt,,  Winning  of  the  West,  ii,  pp.  236-238,  1889.  Ramsey's  state- 
ments, chiefly  on  Haywood's  authority,  of  the  strength  of  the  expedition,  the  number  of  warriors  killed, 
etc.,  are  so  evidently  overdrawn  that  they  are  here  omitted. 

2  Heckewclder,  Indian  Nations,  p.  327,  "reprint  of  1876. 

3  Donelson 's  Journal,  etc.,  in  Ramsey,  Tennessee,  pp.  197-203,  1853;  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West, 
II,  pp.  324-310, 1889. 

abid.,  II,  p.  337. 


rNT>IAN"S   OF   NOKTH    CAEOLIITA.  169 

The  British  having  reconquered  Georgia  and  South  Carohna  and 
destroyed  all  resistance  in  the  south,  early  in  1780  CornwaUis,  with 
his  subordinates,  Ferguson  and  the  merciless  Tarleton,  prepared  to 
invade  North  Carohna  and  sweep  the  country  northward  to  Virginia. 
The  .Creeks  under  McGilhvray,  and  a  number  of  the  Cherokee 
under  various  local  chiefs,  together  with  the  Tories,  at  once  joined 
his  standard. 

While  the  Tennessee  backwoodsmen  were  gathered  at  a  barbecue 
to  contest  for  a  shooting  prize,  a  paroled  prisoner  brought  a  demand 
from  Ferguson  for  their  submission;  with  the  threat,  if  they  refused, 
that  he  would  cross  the  mountains,  hang  their  leaders,  kill  every  man 
found  in  arms,  and  burn  every  settlement.  Up  to  this  time  the 
mountain  men  had  confuied  their  effort  to  holding  in  check  the 
Indian  enemy,  but  now,  with  the  fate  of  the  Revolution  at  stake, 
they  felt  that  the  time  for  wider  action  had  come.  They  resolved 
not  to  await  the  attack,  but  to  anticipate  it.  Without  order  or 
authority  from  Congress,  without  tents,  commissary,  or  supphes, 
the  Indian  fighters  of  Virginia,  North  Carohna,  and  Tennessee 
quickly  assembled  at  the  Sycamore  shoals  of  the  Watauga  to  the 
number  of  about  one  thousand  men  under  Campbell,  of  Virginia, 
Sevier  and  Shelby,  of  Tennessee,  and  McDowell,  of  North  Carohna. 
Crossing  the  mountains,  they  met  Ferguson  at  Ejings  Mountain  in 
South  Carolina  on  October  7,  1780,  and  gained  the  decisive  victory 
that  turned  the  tide  of  the  Revolution  in  the  South. ^ 

It  is  in  place  here  to  quote  a  description  of  these  men  in  buckskin, 
white  by  blood  and  tradition,  but  hah  Indian  in  habit  and  instinct, 
who,  in  half  a  century  of  continuous  conflict,  drove  back  Creeks, 
Cherokee,  and  Shawano,  and  with  one  hand  on  the  plow  and  the 
other  on  the  rifle  redeemed  a  wilderness  and  carried  civihzation  and 
free  government  to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 

They  were  led  by  leader?  they  trusted,  they  were  wonted  to  Indian  warfare,  they 
were  skilled  as  horsemen  and  marksmen,  they  knew  how  to  face  every  kind  of  danger, 
hardsliip,  and  privation.  Their  fringed  and  tasseled  hunting  sliirts  were  girded  by 
bead-worked  belts,  and  the  trappings  of  their  horses  were  stained  red  and  j-^llow. 
On  their  heads  they  wore  caps  of  coon  skin  or  mink  skin,  with  the  tails  hanging  down, 
or  else  felt  hats,  in  each  of  which  was  thrust  a  bucktail  or  a  sprig  of  evergi-een.  Every 
man  carried  a  small-bore  rifle,  a  tomahawk,  and  a  scalping  knife.  A  very  few  of  the 
officers  had  swords,  and  there  was  not  a  bayonet  nor  a  tent  in  the  army.^ 

To  strike  the  blow  at  Kings  Mountain  the  border  men  had  been 
forced  to  leave  their  own  homes  unprotected.  Even  before  they 
could  cross  the  mountains  on  their  return  the  news  came  that  the 
Cherokee  were  again  out  in  force  for  the  destruction  of  the  upper 
settlements,  and  their  numerous  small  bands  were  kiUing,  burning, 
and  plundering  in  the  usual  Indian  fashion.  Without  loss  of  time 
the  Holston  settlements  of  Virginia  and  Tennessee  at  once  raised 
seven  hundred  mounted  riflemen  to  march  against  the  enemy,  the 
command  being  assigned  to  Colonel  Arthur  CampbeU,  of  Virginia, 
and  Colonel  John  Sevier,  of  Tennessee. 

Sevier  started  first  with  nearly  three  hundred  men,  going  south 
along  the  great  Indian  war  trail  and  driving  smaU  parties  of  the 
Cherokee  before  him,  until  he  crossed  the  French  Broad  and  came 
upon  seventy  of  them  on  Boyds  Creek,  not  far  from  the  present 
Sevierville,  on  December  16,  1780.     Ordering  his  men  to  spread  out 

1  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  U,  pp.  241-294, 1889;  Ramsey,  Tennessee,  pp.  208-249, 1853 

2  Roosevelt,  op.  cit.,  p.  256. 


170  INDIANS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

into  a  half  circle,  he  sent  ahead  some  scouts,  who,  by  an  attack 
and  feigned  retreat,  managed  to  draw  the  Indians  into  the  trap 
thus  prepared,  with  the  result  that  they  left  thirteen  dead  and  all 
their  plunder,  while  not  one  of  the  whites  was  even  wounded.^ 

A.  few  days  later  Sevier  was  joined  by  Campbell  with  the  remainder 
of  the  force.  Advancing  to  the  Little  Tennessee  with  but  slight 
resistance,  they  crossed  three  miles  below  Echota  while  the  Indians 
were  watching  for  them  at  the  ford  above.  Then  dividing  into  two 
bodies,  they  proceeded  to  destroy  the  towns  along  the  river.  The 
chiefs  sent  peace  talks  through  Nancy  Ward,  the  Cherokee  woman 
who  had  so  befriended  the  whites  in  1776,  but  to  these  overtures 
Campbell  returned  an  evasive  answer  until  he  could  first  destroy 
the  towns  on  lower  Hiwassee,  whose  warriors  had  been  particularly 
hostile.  Continuing  southward,  the  troops  destroyed  these  towns, 
Hiwassee  and  Chestuee,  with  all  theh  stores  of  provisions,  finishing 
the  work  on  the  last  day  of  the  year.  The  Indians  had  fled  before 
them,  keeping  spies  out  to  watch  their  movements.  One  of  these, 
while  giving  signals  from  a  ridge  by  beating  a  drum,  was  shot  by  the 
whites.  The  soldiers  lost  only  one  man,  who  was  buried  in  an  Indian 
cabin  which  was  then  burned  down  to  conceal  the  trace  of  the  inter- 
ment. The  return  march  was  begun  on  New  Year's  day.  Ten  prin- 
cipal towns,  includmg  Echota,  the  capital,  had  been  destroyed,  besides 
several  smaller  villages,  containing  in  the  aggregate  over  one  thousand 
houses  and  not  less  than  fifty  thousand  bushels  of  corn  and  large 
stores  of  other  provision.  Everything  not  needed  on  the  return 
march  was  committed  to  the  flames  or  otherwise  wasted.  Of  all  the 
towns  west  of  the  mountains  only  Talassee,  and  one  or  two  about 
Chickamauga  or  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Coosa,  escaped.  The 
whites  had  lost  onl}^  one  man  Idlled  and  two  wounded.  Before  the 
return  a  proclamation  was  sent  to  the  Cherokee  chiefs,  warning  them 
to  make  peace  on  penalty  of  a  worse  visitation. ^ 

SDme  Cherokee  who  met  them  at  Echota,  on  the  return  march,  to 
talk  of  peace,  brought  in  and  surrendered  several  white  prisoners.^ 
One  reason  for  the  slight  resistance  made  by  the  Indians  was  prob- 
ably the  fact  that  at  the  very  time  of  the  invasion  many  of  their 
warriors  were  away,  raidmg  on  the  Upper  Holston  and  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Cumberland  Gap.* 

Although  the  Upper  or  Overhill  Cherokee  were  thus  humbled, 
those  of  the  middle  towns,  on  the  headwaters  of  Little  Tennessee, 
still  continued  to  send  out  parties  against  the  back  settlements. 
Sevier  determined  to  make  a  sudden  stroke  upon  them,  and  early  in 
March  of  the  same  year,  1781,  with  150  picked  horsemen,  he  started  to 
cross  the  Great  Smoky  Mountains  over  trails  never  before  attempted 
by  white  men,  and  so  rough  in  places  that  it  was  hardly  possible  to 
lead  horses.  Falling  unexpectedly  upon  Tuckasegee,  near  the  present 
Webster,  North  Carolina,  he  took  the  town  completely  by  surprise, 
Idlling  several  warriors  and  capturmg  a  number  of  women  and  chil- 
dren.    Two  other  principal  towns  and  three  smaller  settlements  were 

1  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  ii,  pp.  298-300,  1889;  Ramsey,  Tennessee,  pp.  261-204,  1853.  There  is 
great  discrepancy  ia  the  various  accounts  ol  this  fight,  from  the  attempts  of  interested  historians  to  magnify 
the  size  of  the  victory.  One  writer  gives  the  Indians  1 ,000  warriors.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  Roosevelt  is  a 
more  relialJe  guide,  his  statements  lieing  usually  from  official  documents. 

2  Roosevelt,  op.  cit.,  pp.  300-304;  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  pp.  265-268;  Campbell,  report,  January  15,  1781,  in 
Virginia  State  Papers,  i,  p.  436.  Haywood  and  others  after  him  make  the  expedition  go  as  far  as  Chicka- 
mauga and  Coosa  River,  but  Campbell's  report  expressly  denies  this. 

3  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  p.  266. 

•  Roosevelt,  op.  cit.,  p.  302. 


INDIANS   OF   NOETH   CAROLHSTA.  171 

taken  in  the  same  way,  with  a  quantity  of  provision  and  about  200 
horses,  the  Indians  being  entirely  off  their  guard  and  unprepared  to 
make  any  effective  resistance.  Having  spread  destruction  through 
the  middle  towns,  with  the  loss  to  himself  of  only  one  man  killed  and 
another  wounded,  he  was  off  again  as  suddenly  as  he  had  come,  mov- 
ing so  rapidly  that  he  was  well  on  his  homeward  way  before  the 
Cherokee  could  gather  for  pursuit.^  At  the  same  time  a  smaller  Ten- 
nessee expedition  went  out  to  disperse  the  Indians  who  had  been 
making  headquarters  in  the  mountains  about  Cumberland  Gap  and 
harassing  travelers  along  the  road  to  Kentucky.^  Numerous  indiT:a- 
tions  of  Indians  were  found,  but  none  were  met,  although  the  country 
was  scoured  for  a  considerable  distance.^  In  summer  the  Cherokee 
made  another  mcursion,  this  time  upon  the  new  settlements  on  the 
French  Broad,  near  the  present  Newport,  Temiessee.  With  a  hundred 
horsemen  Sevier  fell  suddenly  upon  their  camp  on  Indian  Creek, 
killed  a  dozen  warriors,  and  scattered  the  rest.^  By  these  successive 
blows  the  Cherokee  were  so  worn  out  and  dispirited  that  they  were 
forced  to  sue  for  peace,  and  in  midsummei  of  1781  a  treaty  of  peace — • 
doubtful  though  it  might  be — was  negotiated  at  the  Long  Island  of 
the  Holston.^  The  respite  came  just  in  time  to  allow  the  Tennes- 
seeans  to  send  a  detachment  against  CornwaUis. 

Although  there  was  truce  in  Tennessee,  there  was  none  in  the  South. 
In  November  of  this  year  the  Cherokee  made  a  sudden  inroad  upon 
the  Georgia  settlements,  destroying  everything  in  theh  way.  In 
retaliation  a  force  under  General  Pickens  marched  into  their  country, 
destroying  their  towns  as  far  as  Valley  River.  Findmg  further  prog- 
ress blocked  by  heavy  snows  and  learning  through  a  prisoner  that  the 
Indians,  who  had  retired  before  him,  were  coUecting  to  oppose  him  m 
the  mountains,  he  withdrew,  as  he  says,  "  through  absolute  necessity," 
having  accomplished  very  little  of  the  result  expected.  Shortly  after- 
wards the  Cherokee,  together  with  some  Creeks,  agaiu  invaded  Georgia, 
but  were  met  on  Oconee  River  and  driven  back  by  a  detachment  of 
American  troops.® 

The  Overhdl  Cherokee,  on  lower  Little  Tennessee,  seem  to  have 
been  trying  in  good  faith  to  hold  to  the  peace  estabhshed  at  the  Long 
island.  Early  in  1781  the  Government  land  office  had  been  closed 
to  further  entries,  not  to  be  opened  agaiu  until  peace  had  been  de- 
clared with  England,  but  the  borderers  paid  httle  attention  to  the  law 
in  such  matters,  and  the  rage  for  speculation  in  Tennessee  lands  grew 
stronger  daily.^  In  the  fall  of  1782  the  chief.  Old  Tassel  of  Echota, 
on  behaK  of  all  the  friendly  chiefs  and  towns,  sent  a  pathetic  talk  to 
the  governors  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  complaining  that  in 
spite  of  all  their  efforts  to  remain  quiet  the  settlers  were  constantly 
encroaching  upon  them,  and  had  built  houses  within  a  day's  walk  of 
the  Cherokee  towns.  They  asked  that  all  those  whites  who  had 
settled  beyond  the  boundary  last  established  should  be  removed.^ 
As  was  to  have  been  expected,  this  was  never  done. 

J  Campbell,  letter,  March  28, 1781,  in  Virginia  State  Papers,  i,  p.  602,  1875;  Martin,  letter,  March  31, 1781; 
ibid.,  p.  613;  Ramsey,  Temiessee,  p.  26S,  18o3;  Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  n,  pp.  305-307,  1889. 

2  Campbell,  letter,  March  28,  1781,  in  Virginia  State  Papers,  i,  p.  602, 1875. 

3  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  p.  269. 

•  Ibid.;  Roosevelt,  op.  cit.,  p.  307. 

'Ibid.;  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  pp.  267,  268.    The  latter  authority  seems  to  make  it  17S2,  which  is  evidenUy 
a  mistake. 

•  Stevens,  Georgia,  n,  pp.  282-285,  1859;  Jones,  Georgia,  n,  p.  503,  1883. 
1  Roosevelt,  Wirming  of  the  West,  n,  p.  311,  1889. 

•  Old  Tassel's  talk,  in  Ramsey,  ""Tennessee,  p.  271, 1853,  and  in  Roosevelt,  op.  cit.,  p.  315 


172  rN-DIAKS   OF   FORTH   CABOLINA. 

The  Chickamauga  Band,  however,  and  those  farther  to  the  south, 
were  still  bent  on  war,  being  actively  encouraged  in  that  disposition 
by  the  British  agents  and  refugee  loyalists  living  among  them.  They 
continued  to  raid  both  north  and  south,  and  in  September,  1782, 
Sevier,  with  200  mounted  men,  again  made  a  descent  upon  their 
towns,  destroying  several  of  their  settlements  about  Chickamauga 
Creek,  and  penetrating  as  far  as  the  important  town  of  Ustana'H,  on 
the  headwaters  of  Coosa  River,  near  the  present  Calhoun,  Georgia. 
This  also  he  destroyed.  Every  warrior  found  was  killed,  together 
with  a  white  man  found  in  one  of  the  towns,  whose  papers  showed 
that  he  had  been  active  in  inciting  the  Indians  to  war.  On  the  return 
the  expedition  halted  at  Echota,  where  new  assurances  were  received 
from  the  friendly  element.^  In  the  meantime  a  Georgia  expedition  of 
over  400  men,  under  General  Pickens,  had  been  ravaging  the  Cherokee 
towns  in  the  same  quarter,  with  such  effect  that  the  Cherokee  were 
forced  to  purchase  peace  by  a  further  surrender  of  territory  on  the 
head  of  Broad  River  in  Georgia.^  This  cession  was  concluded  at  a 
treaty  of  peace  held  with  the  Georgia  commissioners  at  Augusta  in  the 
next  year,  and  was  confirmed  later  by  the  Creeks,  who  claimed  an 
interest  in  the  same  lands,  but  was  never  accepted  by  either  as  the 
voluntary  act  of  their  tribe  as  a  whole. ^ 

By  the  preliminary  treaty  of  Paris,  November  30,  1782,  the  long 
Revolutionary  struggle  for  independence  was  brought  to  a  close,  and 
the  Cherokee,  as  well  as  the  other  tribes,  seeing  the  hopelessness  of 
continuing  the  contest  alone,  began  to  sue  for  peace.  By  seven  years 
of  constant  warfare  they  had  been  reduced  to  the  lowest  depth  of 
misery,  almost  indeed  to  the  verge  of  extinction.  Over  and  over 
again  their  towns  had  been  laid  in  ashes  and  their  fields  wasted. 
Their  best  warriors  had  been  killed  and  their  women  and  children  had 
sickened  and  starved  in  the  mountains.  Their  great  war  chief, 
Oconostota,  who  had  led  them  to  victory  in  1780,  was  now  a  broken 
old  man,  and  in  this  year,  at  Echota,  formally  resigned  his  office  in 
favor  of  his  son,  The  Terrapin.  To  complete  their  brimming  cup  of 
misery  the  smallpox  again  broke  out  among  them  in  1783.*  De- 
prived of  the  assistance  of  their  former  white  alHes  they  were  left  to 
their  own  cruel  fate,  the  last  feeble  resistance  of  the  mountain  war- 
riors to  the  advancing  tide  of  settlement  came  to  an  end  with  the 
burning  of  Cowee  town,^  and  the  way  was  left  open  to  an  arrangement. 
In  the  same  year  the  North  CaroHna  Legislature  appointed  an  agent 
for  the  Cherokee  and  made  regulations  for  the  government  of  traders 
among  them.^ 

RELATIONS    WITH   THE   UNITED    STATES — FROM   THE    FIRST    TREATY   TO 
THE   REMOVAL — 1785-1838. 

Passing  over  several  unsatisfactory  and  generally  abortive  negotia- 
tions conducted  by  the  various  State  governments  in  1783-84,  includ- 
ing the  treaty  of  Augusta  already  noted,''  we  come  to  the  turning 
point  in  the  history  of  the  Cherokee,  their  first  treaty  with  the  new 

1  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  p.  272;  Roosevelt,  op.  cit.,  p.  317  et  passim. 

'  Stevens,  op.  cit.,  pp.  411-415. 

3  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation,  in  Fifth  Ann.  Rep.  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  p.  151,  1888. 

*  See  documents  in  Virginia  State  Papers,  m,  pp.  234,  398,  527,  1883. 

6  Ramsey,  Tennessee,  p.  2S0,  1853. 

«Il)id.,  p.  276. 

'  See  Royce,  Cherokee  Nation,  op.  cit.,  pp.  151, 152;  Ramsey,  op.  cit.,  p.  299  et  passim. 


INDIANS   OF   NOETH   CAROLINA.  173 

Goveminent  of  the  United  States  for  peace  and  boundary  delimita- 
tion, concluded  at  Hopewell  in  South  CaroUna  on  November  28, 
1785.  Nearly  one  thousand  Cherokee  attended,  the  commissioners 
for  the  United  States  being  Colonel  Benjamin  Hawkins,  of  North 
Carolina;  General  Andrew  Pickens,  of  South  Carolina;  Cherokee 
Agent  Joseph  Martin,  of  Tennessee,  and  Colonel  Lachlan  Mcintosh, 
of  Georgia.  The  instrument  was  signed  by  thirty-seven  chiefs  and 
principal  men,  representing  nearly  as  many  different  towns.  The 
negotiations  occupied  ten  days,  being  complicated  by  a  protest  on  the 
part  of  North  Carolina  and  Georgia  against  the  action  of  the  Govern- 
ment commissioners  in  confirming  to  the  Indians  some  lands  which 
had  already  been  appropriated  as  bounty  lands  for  State  troops  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  Cherokee.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Cherokee 
complained  that  3,000  white  settlers  were  at  that  moment  in  occu- 
pancy of  unceded  land  between  the  Holston  and  the  French  Broad. 
In  spite  of  their  protest  these  intruders  were  allowed  to  remain, 
although  the  territory  was  not  acquired  by  treaty  untU  some  years 
later.  As  finally  arranged  the  treaty  left  the  Middle  and  Upper 
towns,  and  those  in  the  vicuiity  of  Coosa  River,  imdisturbed,  while 
the  whole  country  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  mth  the  Watauga  and 
Cumberland  settlements,  was  given  over  to  the  whites.  The  general 
boundary  followed  the  dividing  ridge  between  Cumberland  River  and 
the  more  southern  waters  of  the  Tennessee  eastward  to  the  junction 
of  the  two  forks  of  Holston,  near  the  present  Kingsport,  Tennessee, 
thence  southward  to  the  Blue  Ridge  and  southwestward  to  a  point 
not  far  from  the  present  Atlanta,  Georgia,  thence  westward  to  the 
Coosa  River  and  northwestward  to  a  creek  running  into  Tennessee 
River  at  the  western  line  of  lyabama,  thence  northward  with  the 
Tennessee  River  to  the  beginning.  The  lands  south  and  west  of  these 
lines  were  recognized  as  belonging  to  the  Creeks  and  Chickasaw. 
Hostilities  were  to  cease  and  the  Cherokee  were  taken  under  the 
protection  of  the  United  States.  The  proceedings  ended  with  the 
distribution  of  a  few  presents. 


THE    EASTERN   TRIBES. 

Besides  the  Iroquois  and  Shawano,  the  Cherokee  remember  also  the 
Delawares,  Tuscarora,  Catawba,  and  Cheraw  as  tribes  to  the  east  or 
north  with  which  they  formerly  had  relations. 

The  Cherokee  call  the  Delawares  Anakwan"klf,  in  the  singular 
Akwan"ki,  a  derivative  formed  according  to  usual  Cherokee  phonetic 
modification  from  Wapanaq'kl,  ''Easterners,"  the  generic  name  by 
which  the  Delawares  and  their  nearest  kindred  call  themselves. 

In  the  most  ancient  tradition  of  the  Delawares  the  Cherokee  are 
called  Talega,  TaUige,  TalUge-wi,  etc.^  In  later  Delaware  tradition 
they  are  called  Kitu'hwa,  and  again  we  find  the  two  tribes  at  war,  for 
which  their  neighbore  are  held  responsible.  According  to  the  Dela- 
ware account,  the  Iroquois,  in  one  of  their  forays  to  the  south,  killed 
a  Cherokee  in  the  woods  and  purposely  left  a  Delaware  war  club 
near  the  body  to  make  it  appear  that  the  work  had  been  done  by  men 
of  that  tribe.     The  Cherokee  found  the  body  and  the  club,  and  natu- 

1  Brinton,  Lenape  aad  Their  Legends,  p.  130  et  passim,  1885;  Schoolcraft,  Notes  on  Iroquois,  pp.  147,  305 
et  passim,  1847;  Heckewelder,  Indian  Nations,  pp.  47-50,  ed.  1876. 


174  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

rally  supposing  that  the  murder  had  been  committed  by  the  Delawares, 
they  suddenly  attacked  the  latter,  the  result  being  a  long  and  bloody 
war  between  the  two  tribes.^  At  this  time,  i.  e.,  about  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  it  appears  that  a  part  at  least  of  the  Cherokee 
lived  on  the  waters  of  the  Upper  Ohio,  where  the  Delawares  made 
continual  inroads  upon  them,  finally  driving  them  from  the  region 
and  seizing  it  for  themselves  about  the  year  1708.^  A  century  ago  the 
Delawares  used  to  tell  how  their  warriors  would  sometimes  mingle  in 
disguise  with  the  Cherokee  at  their  night  dances  until  the  opportunity 
came  to  strike  a  sudden  blow  and  be  off  before  their  enemies  recovered 
from  the  surprise. 

Later  there  seems  to  have  been  peace  until  war  was  again  brought 
on  by  the  action  of  the  Shawano,  who  had  taken  refuge  with  the  Dela- 
wares, after  having  been  driven  from  their  old  home  on  Cumberland 
River  by  the  Cherokee.  Feeling  secure  in  their  new  alliance,  the 
Shawano  renewed  their  raids  upon  the  Cherokee,  who  retahated  by 
pursuing  them  into  the  Delaware  country,  where  they  killed  several 
Delawares  by  mistake.  This  inflamed  the  latter  people,  already 
excited  by  the  sight  of  Cherokee  scalps  and  prisoners  brought  back 
through  their  country  by  the  Iroquois,  and  another  war  was  the  result, 
which  lasted  until  the  Cherokee,  tired  of  fighting  so  many  enemies, 
voluntarily  made  overtures  for  peace  in  1768,  saluting  the  Delawares 
as  Grandfather,  an  honorary  title  accorded  them  by  all  the  Algon- 
quian  tribes.  The  Delawares  then  reprimanded  the  Shawano,  as  the 
cause  of  the  trouble,  and  advised  them  to  keep  quiet,  which,  as  they 
were  now  left  to  fight  their  battles  alone,  they  were  glad  enough  to 
do.  At  the  same  time  the  Cherokee  made  peace  with  the  Iroquois, 
and  the  long  war  with  the  northern  tribes  came  to  an  end.  The 
friendly  feeling  thus  established  was  emphasized  in  1779,  when  the 
Cherokee  sent  a  message  of  condolence  upon  the  death  of  the  Delaware 
chief  White-eyes.^ 

The  Tuscarora,  formerly  the  ruhng  tribe  of  eastern  North  Carohna, 
are  still  remembered  under  the  name  Ani'-Skala'll,  and  are  thus  men- 
tioned in  the  Feather  dance  of  the  Cherokee,  in  which  some  of  the 
actors  are  supposed  to  be  visiting  strangers  from  other  tribes. 

As  the  majority  of  the  Tuscarora  fled  from  Carolina  to  the  Iroquois 
country  about  1713,  in  consequence  of  their  disastrous  war  with  the 
whites,  their  memory  has  nearly  faded  from  the  recollection  of  the 
southern  Indians.  From  the  scanty  fight  which  history  throws  upon 
their  mutual  relations,  the  two  tribes  seem  to  have  been  almost  con- 
stantly at  war  with  each  other.  Wlien  at  one  time  the  Cherokee,  hav- 
ing already  made  peace  with  some  other  of  their  neighbors,  were  urged 
by  the  whites  to  make  peace  also  with  the  Tuscarora,  they  refused,  on 
the  ground  that,  as  they  could  not  five  without  war,  it  was  better  to  let 
matters  stand  as  they  were  than  to  make  peace  with  the  Tuscarora  and 
be  obliged  immediately  to  look  about  for  new  enemies  with  whom  to 
fight.  For  some  years  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Tuscarora  war  in 
1711  the  Cherokee  had  ceased  their  inroads  upon  this  tribe,  and  it  was 
therefore  supposed  that  they  were  more  busily  engaged  with  some 
other  people  west  of  the  mountains,  these  being  probably  the  Shawano, 
whom  they  drove  out  of  Tennessee  about  this  time.*     In  the  war  of 

1  Heckewelder,  op.  cit.,  p.  54. 

2  Loskiel,  History  of  the  [Moravian]  Mission,  pp.  124-127;  London,  1794. 

3  Heckewelder,  Indian  Nations,  pp.  88-89,  1876. 

<See  Haywood,  Nat.  and  Aborig.  Hist,  of  Tennessee,  pp.  220,  224,  237, 1823. 


INDIAN'S    OF    NORTH    CAROLINA.  175 

1711-1713  tiie  Cherokee  assisted  the  whites  against  the  Tuscarora. 
In  1731  the  Cherokee  again  threatened  to  make  war  upon  the  remnant 
of  that  tribe  still  residing  in  North  CaroUna  and  the  colonial  govern- 
ment was  compelled  to  interfere.^ 

The  Cheraw  or  Sara,  ranging  at  different  periods  from  upper  South 
Carolina  to  the  southern  frontier  of  Virginia,  are  also  remembered 
under  the  name  of  Ani'-Suwa'li,  or  Ani'-Suwala,  which  agrees  with 
the  Spanish  form  Xuala  of  De  Soto's  chronicle,  and  Suala,  or  Sualy, 
of  Lederer.  The  Cherokee  remember  them  as  having  Uved  east  of 
the  Blue  Ridge,  the  trad  to  tlieir  country  leading  across  the  gap  at  the 
head  of  Swannanoa  River,  east  from  Asheville.  The  name  of  the 
stream  and  gap  is  a  corruption  of  the  Cherokee  Suwa'll-Nunna'hi, 
"Suwa'M  trail."  Being  a  very  warlike  tribe,  they  were  finally  so 
reduced  by  conflicts  with  the  colonial  governments  and  the  Iroquois 
that  they  were  obliged  to  incorporate  with  the  Catawba,  among  ^Tiom 
they  still  maintained  their  distinct  language  as  late  as  1743.^ 

The  Catawba  are  known  to  the  Cherokee  as  Ani'ta'gwa,  singular 
Ata'gwa,  or  Ta'gwa,  the  Cherokee  attempt  at  the  name  by  which  they 
are  most  commonly  known.  They  were  the  immediate  neighbors  of 
the  Cherokee  on  the  east  and  southeast,  having  their  principal  settle- 
ments on  the  river  of  their  name,  just  within  the  limits  of  South  Caro- 
lina, and  holding  the  leading  place  among  all  the  tribes  east  of  the 
Cherokee  country  with  the  exception  of  the  Tuscarora.  On  the  first 
settlement  of  South  Carolina  there  were  estimated  to  be  about  7,000 
persons  in  the  tribe,  but  their  decline  was  rapid,  and  by  war  and  dis- 
ease their  number  had  been  reduced  in  1775  to  barely  500,  including 
the  incorporated  remnants  of  the  Cheraw  and  several  smaller  tribes. 
There  are  now,  perhaps,  100  still  remaining  on  a  small  reservation 
near  the  site  of  their  ancient  towns.  Some  local  names  in  the  old 
Cherokee  territory  seem  to  mdicate  the  former  presence  of  Catawba, 
although  there  is  no  tradition  of  any  Catawba  settlement  within  those 
limits.  Among  such  names  may  be  mentioned  Toccoa  Creek,  in 
northeastern  Georgia,  and  Toccoa  River,  in  north-central  Georgia, 
both  names  being  derived  from  the  Cherokee  Tagwa'hi,  ' 'Catawba 
place."  An  old  Cherokee  personal  name  is  Ta'gw^dihi',  "Catawba 
killer." 

The  two  tribes  were  hereditary  enemies,  and  the  feehng  between 
them  is  nearly  as  bitter  to-day  as  it  was  a  hundred  years  ago.  Per- 
haps the  only  case  on  record  of  theh  acting  together  was  in  the  war 
of  1711-13,  when  they  cooperated  with  the  colonists  against  the  Tusca- 
rora. The  Cherokee,  according  to  the  late  Colonel  Thomas,  claim 
to  have  formerly  occupied  all  the  country  about  the  head  of  the 
Catawba  River,  to  below  the  present  Morganton,  until  the  game 
became  scarce,  when  they  retired  to  the  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  and 
afterward  "loaned"  the  eastern  territory  to  the  Catawba.  This 
agrees  pretty  well  with  a  Catawba  tradition  recorded  in  Schoolcraft, 
according  to  which  the  Catawba — who  are  incorrectly  represented  as 
comparatively  recent  immigrants  from  the  north — on  arriving  at  Ca- 
tawba River  found  their  progress  disputed  by  the  Cherokee,  who 
claimed  original  ownership  of  the  country.  A  battle  was  fought,  with 
incredible  loss  on  both  sides,  but  with  no  decisive  result,  although  the 

» North  Carolina  Colonial  Records,  III.  pp.  153,  202,  345,  369,  393,  1886. 

'Mooney,  Siouan  Tribes  of  the  East  (bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology),  pp.  56,  61,  1894. 


176  INDIANS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

advantage  was  with  tlie  Catawba,  on  account  of  their  having  guns, 
while  their  opponents  had  only  Indian  weapons.  Preparations  were 
under  way  to  renew  the  fight  when  the  Cherokee  offered  to  recognize 
the  river  as  the  boundary,  allowing  the  Catawba  to  settle  anywhere 
to  the  east.  The  overture  was  accepted  and  an  agreement  was 
finally  made  by  which  the  Catawba  were  to  occupy  the  country  east 
of  that  river  and  the  Cherokee  the  country  west  of  Broad  River,  with 
the  region  between  the  two  streams  to  remain  as  neutral  territory. 
Stone  piles  were  heaped  up  on  the  battle  field  to  commemorate  the 
treaty,  and  the  Broad  River  was  henceforth  called  Eswau  Huppeday 
(Line  River),  by  the  Catawba,  the  country  eastward  to  Catawba 
River  being  left  unoccupied.^  The  fact  that  one  party  had  guns 
would  bring  this  event  within  the  early  historic  period. 

The  Catawba  assisted  the  whites  against  the  Cherokee  in  the  war 
of  1760  and  in  the  later  Revolutionary  struggle.  About  100  war- 
riors, nearly  the  whole  fighting  strength  of  the  tribe,  took  part  in 
the  first-mentioned  war,  several  being  killed,  and  a  smaller  number 
accompanied  Williamson's  force  in  1776.^  At  the  battle  fought  under 
Williamson  near  the  present  site  of  Franklin,  North  Carolina,  the 
Cherokee,  according  to  the  tradition  related  by  Wafford,  mistook  the 
Catawba  allies  of  the  troops  for  some  of  their  own  warriors,  and  were 
fighting  for  some  time  under  this  impression  before  they  noticed  that 
the  Catawba  wore  deer  tails  in  their  hair  so  that  the  whites  might  not 
make  the  same  mistake.  In  this  engagement,  which  was  one  of  the 
bloodiest  Indian  encounters  of  the  Revolution,  the  Cherokee  claim 
that  they  had  actually  defeated  the  troops  and  their  Catawba  allies, 
when  their  own  ammunition  gave  out  and  they  were  consequently 
forced  to  retire.  The  Cherokee  leader  was  a  noted  war  chief  named 
Tsani  (John). 

About  1840  nearly  the  whole  Catawba  tribe  moved  up  from  South 
Carolina  and  joined  the  eastern  band  of  Cherokee,  but  in  consequence 
of  tribal  jealousies  they  remained  but  a  short  time,  and  afterward 
returned  to  their  former  home,  as  is  related  elsewhere. 

Other  tribal  names  (of  doubtful  authority)  are  Ani'-Sa'ni  and  Ani'- 
Sawaha'ni,  belonging  to  people  said  to  have  lived  toward  the  north; 
both  names  are  perhaps  intended  for  the  Shawano  or  Shawnee,  prop- 
erly Ani'-Saw§,nu'gL  The  Ani'-Gili'  are  said  to  have  been  neighbors 
of  the  Anin'tsi  or  Natchez;  the  name  may  possibly  be  a  Cherokee  form 
for  Congaree. 

******* 

Tuscarora. — The  Tuscarora,  a  southern  tribe  of  the  Iroquoian  stock, 
formerly  occupied  an  extensive  territory  upon  Neuse  River  and  its 
branches,  in  eastern  North  Carolina,  and,  like  their  northern  cousins, 
seem  to  have  assumed  and  exercised  a  certain  degree  of  authority 
over  all  the  smaller  tribes  about  them.  As  early  as  1670  Lederer 
described  the  Tuscarora  ''emperor"  as  the  haughtiest  Indian  he  had 
ever  met.  About  the  year  1700  Lawson  estimated  them  at  1,200 
warriors  (6,000  souls?)  in  15  towns.  In  1711  they  rose  against  the 
whites,  one  of  their  first  acts  of  hostility  being  the  killing  of  Lawson 
himself,  who  was  engaged  in  surv^eying  lands  which  they  claimed  as 
their  own.     In  a  struggle  extending  over  about  two  years  they  were 

'Catawba  MS.  from  South  Carolina  olHcial  archives.     Schoolcralt,  Indian  Tribes,  in,  pp.  293-4,  185:3. 
'Ibid.,  p.  294, 1853. 


INDIANS   OF   NOETH   CAEOLIlSrA.  177 

SO  terribly  decimated  that  the  greater  portion  fied  from  Carohna  and 
took  refuge  with  their  kinsmen  and  friends,  the  Iroquois  of  New  York, 
who  were  henceforth  known  as  the  Six  Nations.  The  so-called 
"friendly"  party,  under  Chief  Blount,  was  settled  upon  a  small  res- 
ervation north  oi  Roanoke  River  in  what  is  now  Bertie  County,  North 
Carolina.  Here  they  gradually  decreased  by  disease  and  emigration 
to  the  North,  until  the  few  who  were  left  sold  their  last  remaining 
lands  in  1804.  The  history  of  the  tribe  after  the  removal  to  the 
North  is  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  Iroquois  or  Six  Nations.  They 
number  now  about  750,  of  whom  about  380  are  on  the  Tuscarora 
Reservation  in  New  York,  the  others  upon  the  Grand  River  Reserva- 
tion in  Ontario. 

Xuala,  Suwali,  Sara,  or  Oheraw. — For  the  identification  and  earhest 
notices  of  the  Sara  see  historical  note  8,  "De  Soto's  Route."  Their 
later  history  is  one  of  almost  constant  hostility  to  the  whites  until 
their  final  incorporation  with  the  Catawba,  with  whom  they  were 
probably  cognate,  about  the  year  1720.  In  1743  they  still  preserved 
their  distinct  language,  and  appear  to  be  last  mentioned  in  1768, 
when  they  numbered  about  50  souls  hving  among  the  Catawba.  See 
Mooney,  Siouan  Tribes  of  the  East,  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Eth- 
nology, 1894. 

Catawba. — The  origin  and  meaning  of  this  name,  which  dates  back 
at  least  two  centuries,  are  unknown.  It  may  possibly  come  from  the 
Choctaw  through  the  Mobihan  trade  jargon.  They  call  themselves 
Nieye,  which  means  simply  "people"  or  "Indians."  The  Iroquois 
caU  them  and  other  cognate  tribes  in  their  vicinity  Toderigh-rono, 
whence  Tutelo.  In  the  seventeenth  century  they  were  often  known 
as  Esaw  or  Ushery,  apparently  from  iswa' ,  river,  in  their  o^vn  lan- 
guage. The  Cherokee  name  Ata'gwa,  plural  Ani'ta'gwa,  is  a  corrup- 
tion of  the  popular  form.  Their  Hnguistic  affinity  with  the  Siouan 
stock  was  estabhshed  by  Gatschet  in  1881.  See  Mooney,  Siouan 
Tribes  of  the  East. 

The  southern  and  western  tribes:  The  Creelc  confederacy. — Next  in 
importance  to  the  Cherokee,  among  the  southern  tribes,  were  the 
Indians  of  the  Creek  confederacy,  occupying  the  greater  portion  of 
Georgia  and  Alabama,  immediately  south  of  the  Cherokee.  They 
are  said  to  have  been  called  Creeks  by  the  early  traders  on  account 
of  the  abundance  of  small  streams  in  their  country.  Before  the 
whites  began  to  press  upon  them  their  tribes  held  nearly  all  the 
territory  from  the  Atlantic  westward  to  about  the  watershed  between 
the  Tombigby  and  the  Pearl  and  Pascagoula  Rivers,  being  cut  off 
from  the  Gulf  coast  by  the  Choctaw  tribes,  and  from  the  Savannah, 
except  near  the  mouth,  by  the  Uchee,  Shawano,  and  Cherokee. 
About  the  year  1800  the  confederacy  comprised  75  towns,  the  people 
of  47  of  which  were  the  Upper  Creeks,  centering  about  the  upper 
waters  of  the  Alabama,  while  those  of  the  remaining  28  were  the 
Lower  Ceeks,  upon  the  lower  Chattahoochee  and  its  branches 
(Hawkins).  Among  them  were  represented  a  number  of  tribes  for- 
merly distinct  and  speaking  distinct  languages.  The  ruling  tribe  and 
language  was  the  Muscogee  (plural,  Muscoglilgee) ,  which  frequently 
gave  its  name  to  the  confederacy.  Other  languages  were  the  Ala- 
bama, Koasati,  Hichitee,  Taskigi,  Uchee,  Natchee,  and  Sawanugi  or 
Shawano.  The  Muscogee,  Alabama,  Koasati,  Hichitee,  and  Taskigi 
(?)  belonged  to  the  Muskhogean  stock,  the  Alabama  and  Koasati, 

75321° — S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 12 


178  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

however,  being  nearer  linguistically  to  the  Choctaw  than  to  the  Mus- 
cogee. The  Hichitee  represent  the  conquered  or  otherwise  incorpo- 
rated Muskhogean  tribes  of  the  Georgia  coast  region.  The  Apalachi 
on  Appalachee  Bay  in  Florida,  who  were  conquered  by  the  Enghsh 
about  1705  and  afterward  incorporated  with  the  Creeks,  were  dialec- 
tically  closely  akin  to  the  Hichitee;  the  Seminole  also  were  largely 
an  offshoot  from  this  tribe.  Of  the  Taskigi  all  that  is  known  has  been 
told  elsewhere. 

The  Uchee,  Natchee,  and  Sawanugi  were  incorporated  tribes,  differ- 
ing radically  in  language  from  each  other  and  from  the  Muskhogean 
tribes.  The  territory  of  the  Uchee  included  both  banks  of  the  middle 
Savannah,  below  the  Cherokee,  and  extended  into  middle  Georgia. 
They  had  a  strong  race  pride,  claiming  to  be  older  in  the  country  than 
the  Muscogee,  and  are  probably  identical  with  the  people  of  Contachi- 
qui,  mentioned  in  the  early  Spanish  narratives.  According  to  Haw- 
kins, their  incorporation  with  the  Creeks  was  brought  about  in  conse- 
quence of  intermarriages  about  the  year  1729.  The  Natchee  or 
Natchez  were  an  important  tribe  residing  in  lower  Mississippi,  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  present  town  of  that  name,  until  driven  out  by  the 
French  about  the  year  1730,  when  most  of  them  took  refuge  with  the 
Creeks,  while  others  joined  the  Chickasaw  and  Cherokee.  The  Sawan- 
ugi were  Shawano  who  kept  their  town  on  Savannah  River,  near  the 
present  Augusta,  after  the  main  body  of  their  tribe  had  removed  to 
the  North  about  1692.  They  probably  joined  the  Creeks  about  the 
same  tmie  as  their  friends,  the  Uchee.  The  Uchee  still  constitute  a 
compact  body  of  about  600  souls  in  the  Creek  Nation,  keeping  up  their 
distinct  language  and  tribal  character.  The  Natchee  are  reduced  to 
one  or  two  old  men,  while  the  Sawanugi  have  probably  lost  their  iden- 
tity long  ago. 

According  to  Morgan,  the  Muscogee  proper,  andperhaps  also  their 
incorporated  tribes,  have  22  clans.  Of  these  the  Wind  appears  to  be 
the  leading  one,  possessing  privileges  accorded  to  no  other  clan,  in- 
cluding the  hereditary  guardianship  of  the  ancient  metal  tablets  which 
constitute  the  palladium  of  the  tribe.  By  the  treaty  of  Washington 
in  1832,  the  Creeks  sold  all  of  their  remaining  lands  in  their  old 
country  and  agreed  to  remove  west  of  the  Mississippi  to  what  is  now 
the  Creek  Nation  in  the  Indian  Territory.  The  removal  extended 
over  a  period  of  several  years  and  was  not  finally  accomphshed  until 
1845.  In  1898  the  citizen  population  of  the  Creek  Nation  numbered 
14,771,  of  whom  10,014  were  of  Indian  blood  and  the  remainder  were 
negroes,  their  former  slaves.  It  appears  that  the  Indian  population 
included  about  700  from  other  tribes,  chiefly  Cherokee.  There  are 
also  about  300  Alabama,  '^Cushatta''  (Koasati),  and  Muscogee  in 
Texas.  See  also  Hawkins,  Sketch  of  the  Creek  Country;  Gatschet, 
Creek  Migration  Legend;  Adair,  History  of  the  American  Indians; 
Bartram,  Travels;  The  Five  Civilized  Tribes,  Bulletin  of  the  Eleventh 
Census;  Wyman,  in  Alabama  Historical  Society  Collections. 

Chickasaw. — This  tribe,  of  Muskhogean  stock,  formerly  occupied 
northern  Mississippi  and  adjacent  portions  of  Alabama  and  Tennes- 
see, and  at  an  early  period  had  incoiporated  al&o  several  smaller  tribes 
on  Yazoo  River  in  central  Mississippi,  chief  among  which  were  the 
cognate  Chokchuma.  The  name  occurs  first  in  the  De  Soto  narrative. 
The  Chickasaw  language  was  simply  a  dialect  of  Choctaw,  although 
the  two  tribes  were  hereditary  enemies  and  differed  widely  in  char- 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  179 

acter,  the  former  being  active  and  warlike,  while  the  latter  were  noto- 
riously sluggish.  Throughout  the  colonial  period  the  Chickasaw  were 
the  constant  enemies  of  the  French  antl  friends  of  the  Enghsh,  but 
they  remained  neutral  in  the  Revolution.  By  the  treaty  of  Pontotoc 
in  1832  they  sold  their  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  and  agreed  to 
remove  to  Indian  Territory,  where  they  are  now  organized  as  the 
Chickasaw  Nation.  According  to  Morgan  they  have  12  clans  grouped 
into  two  phratries,  In  1890  the  citizen  population  of  the  nation 
(under  Chickasaw  laws)  consisted  of  3,941  full- blood  and  mixed-blood 
Chickasaw,  681  adopted  whites,  131  adopted  negroes,  and  946 
adopted  Indians  from  other  tribes,  chiefly  Choctaws.  Under  the 
present  law,  by  which  citizenship  claims  are  decided  by  a  Govern- 
ment commission,  "Chickasaw  by  blood"  are  reported  in  1898  to 
number  4,230,  while  "white  and  negro"  citizens  are  reported  at 
4,818.  See  also  Gatschet,  Creek  Migration  Legend;  The  Five  Civil- 
ized Tribes,  Bulletin  of  Eleventh  Census. 


EXHIBIT  H. 
HISTORY  OF  THE  TUSCARORAS. 

[From  Handbook  of  American  Indians;] 

TuscARORA  (STcaru're'^',  "hemp  gatherers,"  the  Apocynum  canna- 
hinum,  or  Indian  hemp,  being  a  plant  of  many  uses  among  the  Carohna 
Tuscarora;  the  native  form  of  this  appellative  is  impersonal,  there 
being  no  expressed  pronominal  affix  to  indicate  person,  number,  or 
gender).  Formerly  an  important  confederation  of  tribes,  speaking 
languages  cognate  with  those  of  the  Iroquoian  linguistic  group,  and 
dwelUng,  when  first  encountered,  on  the  Roanoke,  Neuse,  Taw  (Tor- 
hunta  or  Narhontes),  and  Pamhco  rs.,  N.  C.  The  evidence  drawn 
from  the  testimony  of  writers  contemporary  with  them,  confirmed  in 

Eart  by  tradition,  makes  it  appear  that  while  occupying  this  primitive 
abitat  the  Tuscarora  league  was  composed  of  at  least  three  tribal 
constituent  members,  each  bearing  an  independent  and  exclusive 
appellation.  The  names  of  these  component  members  still  survive 
in  the  traditions  of  the  Tuscarora  now  dwelling  in  w.  New  York  and 
s.  Ontario,  Canada.  The  first  of  these  tribal  names  is  Kd'te'nu'd'Tcd', 
i.  e.,  " People  of  the  Submerged  Pine-tree; "  the  second  Akawente' akW 
(meaning  doubtful);  and  the  third,  Slcaru're'^',  "Hemp  Gatherers." 
Cusick  (Hist.  Six  Nations,  34,  1828)  wrote  these  tribal  appellations 
"Kautanohakau,"  "Kauwetseka,"  and  "Tuscarora,"  respectively, 
and  (p.  31)  refers  also  to  the  "Esaurora,  or  Tuscarora,"  from  which 
it  may  be  inferred  that  Esaurora  is  a  synonym  of  Skaru'ree'. 
According  to  the  same  authority  (p.  36),  the  Tuscarora,  on  tradi- 
tionary evidence,  possessed  m  early  times  the  "country  lying  between 
the  sea  shores  and  the  mountains,  which  divide  the  Atlantic  States," 
in  which  they  had  24  large  towns  and  could  muster  6,000  warriors, 
probably  meaning  persons.  Lawson,  a  better  authority,  wrote  that 
in  1708  the  Tuscarora  had  15  towns  and  about  1,200  warriors — per- 
haps a  minimum  estimate  of  the  true  number  of  their  fighting-men; 
and  Johnson  (Legends,  etc.,  of  the  Iroquois,  1881)  says  that  the  Tus- 
carora in  North  Carolina  had  6  towns  and  1,200  warriors,  which  was 
probably  approximately  true  of  the  Tuscarora  proper.  Col.  Barn- 
well, the  commander  of  the  South  Carolina  forces  in  the  war  of  1711-12, 
said  that  the  Tuscarora  or  "  the  enemy  can't  be  less  than  1,200  or  1,400 
[warriors],  which  may  be  easily  judged  by  their  large  settlements;" 
but  Gov.  Spotswood  of  Virginia  placed  their  fighting  strength  at  2,000 
men  in  1711.  According  to  Barnwell  the  Tuscarora  had  3  towns  on 
Pamlico  r.,  of  which  one  was  Ucouhnerunt,  but  that  most  of  their 
towns  were  on  Neuse  r.,  and  its  many  affluents.  Some  indication  of 
the  extent  of  the  territory  claimed  by  the  Tuscarora  may  be  obtained 
from  the  terms  of  the  truce  declared  between  the  Tuscarora  and  Col. 
Barnwell  in  1712.  It  was  agreed  therein  that  the  Tuscarora  were 
"to  plant  only  on  Neuse  River,  the  creek  the  fort  is  on,  quitting  aU 
claims  to  other  lands.  ...  To  quit  all  pretensions  to  plantmg,  fishing, 
hunting  or  ranging  to  all  lands  lyiaig  between  Neuse  River  and  Cape 
180 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  181 

Feare,  that  entirely  to  be  left  to  the  So.  Caroliiia  Indians,  and  to  be 
treated  as  enemies  if  found  in  those  ranges  without  breach  of  peace, 
and  the  enemy's  hne  shall  be  between  Neuse  and  PambUco  .  .  . 
fishing  on  both  sides  Bear  River."  This  would  indicate  that  Cape 
Fear  r.  was  the  southern  boundary  of  the  Tuscarora  territory. 

History. — The  data  for  the  history  of  the  Tuscarora  are  meager  and 
fragmentary,  hence  while  they  were  at  first  an  important  people  of 
North  Carolina,  httle  is  evidently  known  regarding  them,  and  that 
little  usually  appUes  to  only  a  part  of  the  people.  The  first  authentic 
information  concerning  the  Tuscarora  is  that  recorded  by  Lawson, 
the  Surveyor  General  of  North  Carolina,  who  knew  them  well,  having 
lived  in  close  contact  with  them  for  many  years,  llis  History  of 
Carolina,  having  been  written  about  1709  and  pubhshed  in  1718,  con- 
tains nothmg  in  regard  to  the  Tuscarora  during  the  most  eventful 
period  of  their  history,  namely,  that  covering  the  years  1711  to  1713. 
During  this  time  they  fought  two  wars  with  the  colonists  of  North 
Carolina,  who  were  effectively  aided  by  those  of  South  Carohna  and 
Virginia,  reenforced  by  their  tributary  Indian  allies.  The  first  war 
began  with  the  capture  of  Lawson  and  the  Baron  De  Graffenried  by 
about  60  Tuscarora  and  the  condemnation  to  death  of  the  former  in 
September,  1711.  Immediately  following,  a  portion  of  the  Tuscarora 
under  Hencock,  the  Coree,  Pamlico,  Matamuskeet,  Bear  Rivers,  and 
Machapungo,  conspired  to  cut  off  the  whites,  each  one  of  the  tribes 
agreeing  to  operate  in  its  own  district  whence  they  were  being  driven 
by  the  steady  encroachment  of  the  colonists.  This  compact  resulted 
in  the  massacre  of  about  130  of  the  colonists  on  September  22,  1711, 
on  Trent  and  Pamlico  Rrs.,  by  the  tribes  mentioned.  Col.  Barn- 
well was  sent  by  South  Carolina  to  aid  the  hard-pressed  colonists  of 
North  Carolina,  and  succeeded  in  driving  the  Tuscarora  into  one  of 
their  pahsaded  towns  about  20  m.  above  Newbern,  N.  C,  where  he 
defeated  them  and  later  induced  them  to  accept  terms  of  peace;  but 
Barnwell  violated  this  treaty  by  seizing  some  of  the  Indians  and  send- 
ing them  away  into  slavery.  This  was  the  beginnmg  of  the  second 
war  between  the  Tuscarora  and  their  alhes  and  the  people  of  North 
Carolina.  Again  an  appeal  was  made  to  South  Carolina  for  aid,  which 
responded  by  sending  Col.  James  Moore  with  a  small  militia  force  and 
about  900  tributary  Indians. 

Of  the  Tuscarora,  Lawson  said  that  they  possessed  many  amiable 
quaUties;  that,  in  fact,  they  were  "really  better  to  us  than  we  have 
been  to  them,  as  they  always  freely  give  us  of  their  victuals  at  their 
quarters,  while  we  let  them  walk  by  our  doors  hungry,  and  do  not 
often  relieve  them.  We  look  upon  them  with  disdain  and  scorn,  and 
think  them  httle  better  than  beasts  in  human  form;  while  with  all 
our  religion  and  education,  we  possess  more  moral  deformities  and 
vices  than  these  people  do."  This  attitude  of  the  whites  toward  the 
Indians  naturally  led  to  the  troubles  later,  which  ended  in  much 
bloodshed  and  cruelty  on  both  sides.  Although  the  Tuscarora  were 
regarded  as  mild,  kind,  peaceable,  ingenious,  and  industrious,  they 
were  speedily  brutahzed  by  the  vices  of  the  colonists  with  whom  they 
came  in  contact;  their  women  were  debauched  by  the  whites,  and 
both  men  and  women  were  kidnapped  to  be  sold  into  slavery.  The 
colonists  of  North  Carolina,  hke  their  Puritan  brethren  of  New  Eng- 
land, did  not  recognize  in  the  Indian  any  right  to  the  soil,  hence  the 
lands  of  the  Tuscarora  and  of  their  Indian  neighbors  and  alhes  were 


182  INDIAlSrS   OP   NOKTH   CAROLINA. 

appropriated  without  thought  of  purchase.  It  is  not  strange,  there- 
fore, that  such  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  whites  should  eventually 
have  awakened  distrust  and  jealousy  in  the  minds  of  the  erstwhile 
amiable  Tuscarora,  which,  fomented  by  these  and  other  grievances, 
finally  ripened  into  a  hatred  which  led  to  resistance  and  reprisal. 

Perhaps  the  most  lucid  and  condensed  statement  of  the  wrongs 
suffered  by  the  Tuscarora  before  vainly  attempting  to  right  them  is 
contained  in  a  petition  made  to  the  Provincial  Government  of  Penn- 
sylvania in  1710.  More  than  a  year  before  the  massacre  of  1711  the 
Tuscarora  had  officially  formulated  a  number  of  proposals  embody- 
ing their  grievances  and  their  desire  to  have  these  adjusted  or  removed 
by  the  conclusion  of  peace,  and  to  this  end  they  sent,  through  the 
Conestoga  (Susquehanna),  an  embassy  with  these  pacific  overtures 
to  the  people  and  government  of  Pennsylvania.  The  governor  and 
provincial  council  dispatched  two  commissioners  to  meet  this  embassy 
at  Conestoga  on  June  8,  1710,  where,  in  addition  to  the  Tuscarora 
emissaries,  they  found  Civility  and  four  other  Conestoga  chiefs,  and 
Opessa,  the  head  chief  of  the  Shawnee.  In  the  presence  of  these 
officials  the  Tuscarora  ambassadors  deUvered  their  proposals,  attested 
by  eight  wampum  belts,  at  the  same  time  informing  the  Pennsylvania 
commissioners  that  these  were  sent  as  an  overture  for  the  purpose  of 
asking  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities  until  the  following  spring,  when 
their  chiefs  and  headmen  would  come  in  person  "to  sufe  for  the  peace 
they  so  much  desired."  By  the  first  belt,  the  elder  women  and  the 
mothers  besought  the  friendship  of  the  Christian  people,  the  Indians 
and  the  government  of  Pennsylvania,  so  they  might  fetch  wood  and 
water  without  risk  or  danger.  By  the  second,  the  children  born 
and  those  about  to  be  born,  implored  for  room  to  sport  and  play  with- 
out the  fear  of  death  or  slavery.  By  the  third,  the  young  men  asked 
for  the  privilege  to  leave  their  towns  without  the  fear  of  death  or 
slavery  to  hunt  for  meat  for  their  mothers,  their  children,  and  the 
aged  ones.  By  the  fourth,  the  old  men,  the  elders  of  the  people, 
asked  for  the  consummation  of  a  lasting  peace,  so  that  the  forest  (the 
paths  to  other  tribes)  be  as  safe  for  them  as  their  palisaded  towns. 
By  the  fifth,  the  entire  tribe  asked  for  a  firm  peace.  By  the  sixth, 
the  chiefs  asked  for  the  establishment  of  a  lasting  peace  with  the  gov- 
ernment, people,  and  Indians  of  Pennsylvania,  whereby  they  would 
be  reUved  from  ''those  fearful  apprehensions  they  have  these  several 
years  felt."  By  the  seventh,  the  Tuscarora  begged  for  a  ''cessation 
from  murdering  and  taking  them,"  so  that  thereafter  they  would  not 
fear  "  a  mouse,  or  anything  that  ruffles  the  leaves."  By  the  eighth, 
the  tribe,  being  strangers  to  the  people  and  government  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, asked  for  an  official  path  or  means  of  communication  between 
them. 

Stripped  of  metaphor  and  the  language  of  diplomacy,  the  purport 
of  this  message  is  plain;  it  was  the  statement  of  a  tribe  at  bay,  that 
in  view  of  the  large  numbers  of  their  people  who  were  being  kid- 
naped to  be  sold  into  slavery  or  who  were  being  kiUed  while  seek- 
ing to  defend  their  offspring  and  their  friends  and  kindred  they 
desired  to  remove  to  a  more  just  and  friendly  government  than  that 
whence  they  came.  At  this  time  there  was  no  war  between  them 
and  the  white  people;  there  had  as  yet  been  no  massacre  by  the 
Tuscarora,  no  threat  of  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  yet  to 
maintain  peace  and  to  avoid  the  impending  shedding  of  blood  they 


INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA.  183 

were  even  then  willing  to  forsake  their  homes.  The  commissioners 
of  Pennsylvania,  however,  informed  the  delegates,  among  other 
things,  that  "to  confirm  the  sincerity  of  their  past  carriage  toward 
the  English,  and  to  raise  in  us  a  good  opinion  of  them,  it  would  be 
very  necessary  to  procure,  a  certificate  from  the  government  they 
leave,  to  this,  of  their  good  behaviour,  and  then  they  might  be 
assured  of  a  favourable  reception"  (Min.  Prov.  Coun.  JPa.,  ii,  511, 
1852).  The  Conestoga  ("Seneques")  chiefs  present  at  this  confer- 
ence stated  that  by  the  advice  of  their  council  it  had  been  deter- 
mined to  send  these  belts,  brought  by  the  Tuscarora,  to  the  Five 
Nations.  It  was  the  reception  of  the  belts  with  their  pitiful  messages 
by  these  Five  Nations  that  moved  the  latter  to  take  steps  to  shield 
and  protect  the  Tuscarora,  which  gave  so  much  apprehension  to  the 
northern  colonies. 

The  rapid  encroachment  of  the  whites  on  the  lands  of  the  Tusca- 
rora and  their  Indian  neighbors  for  a  period  of  60  years  after  the 
first  settlements,  although  there  was  an  air  of  peace  and  harmony 
between  the  two  races,  were  wrongs  which  dwarfed  in  comparison 
with  the  continued  practice  of  kidnaping  their  yonng  to  be  sold 
into  slavery.  This  was  the  true  cause  of  the  so-called  Tuscarora 
War  in  1711-1713.  This  phase  of  the  question  is  overlooked  or  quite 
disregarded  by  most  historians;  but  years  before  the  massacre  of 

1711,  Tuscarora  Indians  were  brought  into  Pennsylvania  and  sold 
as  slaves,  a  transaction  that  excited  grave  apprehension  in  the 
minds  of  the  resident  Indian  tribes.  To  allay  as  much  as  possible 
this  growing  terror  among  them,  the  provincial  council  of  Pennsyl- 
vania enacted  in  1705  that,  "Whereas  the  importation  of  Indian 
slaves  from  Carolina,  or  other  places,  hath  been  observed  to  give 
the  Indians  of  this  province  some  umbrage  for  suspicion  and  dissat- 
isfaction," such  importation  be  prohibited  after  March  25,  1706.  This 
enactment  was  based  solely  on  expediency  and  self-interest,  since  it 
was  evident  that  the  Indians  to  the  southward  were  in  a  general 
commotion.     During  the  Tuscarora  War  an  act  was  passed,  June  7, 

1712,  forbidding  the  importation  of  Indians,  but  providing  for  their 
sale  as  slaves  to  the  highest  bidder  in  case  any  should  be  imported 
for  that  purpose.  It  is  known  that  the  prisoners  of  Col.  Barnwell 
and  Col.  Moore  were  all  sold  as  slaves,  even  the  northern  colonies 
being  canvassed  for  a  market  for  them;  indeed,  the  Boston  News 
Letter  of  1713  contained  an  advertisement  ofl'ering  these  very  Indians 
for  purchase. 

According  to  De  Graffenried,  Surveyor  Gen.  Lawson  in  1709- 
10  settled  his  people,  the  Swiss  and  Palatines,  on  the  south  bank  of  Trent 
River,  on  a  tongue  of  laud  called  Chattawka,  formed  by  the  Trent  and 
the  Neuse  in  North  Carolina,  in  a  hot  and  unheal thful  situation. 
De  Graffenried  bitterly  complained  that  the  surveyor  general  was 
dishonest  for  having  charged  him  a  "heavy  price"  for  it,  and  for  the 
consequences  of  his  not  knowing  that  Lawson  had  no  title  to  the 
land  and  that  the  place  was  still  inhabited  by  the  Indians,  although 
the  surveyor  general  had  attested  that  the  land  was  free  of  encum- 
brance and  unoccupied.  This  encroachment  on  the  Indian  lands 
was  one  of  the  fundamental  causes  of  the  so-caUed  Tuscarora  War. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  Coree,  together  with  their  close  allies,  the 
hostile  Tuscarora,  in  1711  took  vengeance  on  the  Swiss  and  Palatines 
settled  on  Trent  River,  kilUng  about  70  of  them,  woimding  many  others, 


184  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

and  destroying  much  of  their  property.  De  Graffenried  says  that 
one  of  the  several  causes  of  the  war  was  the  "rough  treatment  of 
some  turbulent  Carolinians,  who  cheated  those  Indians  in  trading, 
and  would  not  allow  them  to  hunt  near  their  plantations,  and  under 
that  pretense  took  away  from  them  their,  game,  arms,  and  ammuni- 
tion," and  that  the  despised  Indians  being  "insulted  in  many  ways 
by  a  few  rough  Carolinians,  more  barbarous  and  inhuman  than  the 
savages  themselves,  could  not  stand  such  treatment  any  longer  and 
began  to  think  of  their  safety  and  of  vengeance.  What  they  did 
they  did  very  secretly." 

Inaletter  of  Maj.  Christopher  Gale  to  his  brother,  November  2,  1711, 
he  describes  a  condition,  fairly  representative  of  the  times,  as  to  the 
relations  between  the  whites  and  the  Indians  around  them.  Dur- 
ing an  attack  on  one  of  the  many  small  garrisons  maintained  for  the 
protection  of  the  settlements,  "a  number  of  Indian  prisoners  of  a 
certain  nation,  which  we  did  not  know,  whether  they  were  friends  or 
enemies,  rose  in  the  garrison,  but  were  soon  cut  to  pieces,  as  those  on 
the  outside  repelled.  In  the  garrison  were  kiUed  9  men,  and  soon 
after  39  women  and  children  sent  off  for  slaves."  This  shows  that 
for  the  purposes  of  slavery  little  distinction,  if  any,  was  made  between 
one  tribe  and  another. 

De  Graffenried,  while  a  captive  among  the  hostile  Tuscarora, 
negotiated,  subsequent  to  the  execution  of  the  unfortunate  Lawson, 
a  private  treaty  with  them  by  offering  to  every  one  of  the  chiefs  of 
the  10  villages  of  the  hostiles  a  cloth  jerkin,  2  bottles  of  powder,  500 
grains  of  small  shot,  2  bottles  of  rum,  and  something  more  to  the 
head  chief  for  his  own  ransom.  Among  other  things  he  agreed  to 
remain  neutral  during  the  continuance  of  the  war,  and  that  he,  the 
"said  governor  of  the  German  colony,  promises  to  remain  within 
his  limits  and  to  take  no  more  lands  from  them  without  due  warning 
to  the  king  [head  chiefl  and  his  nation."  Thus  De  Graffenried 
admitted  taking  Indian  lands  without  consulting  the  Indians, 
although  he  says  elsewhere,  "It  must  be  observed  that  it  was  neither 
I  nor  my  colony  who  were  the  cause  of  that  terrible  slaughter  or 
Indian  war, "  apparently  overlooking  the  fact  that  the  greatest  massa- 
cre was  among  his  own  Swiss  and  Palatines,  indicating  that  the 
Indians  thus  resented  the  wrongs  committed  by  him  and  his  people. 

In  order  to  secure  the  aid  of  the  Catawba  ("Flatheads")  against 
the  hostile  Tuscarora,  the  Carolina  authorities  promised  them  that 
in  the  event  of  success  in  the  war  the  Indians  were  to  obtain  goods 
"  cheaper  than  formerly."  But  after  faithfully  aiding  the  Carolinians 
in  1711-1713  in  dispersing  the  hostile  Tuscarora,  the  Catawba  were 
deceived  as  to  the  promised  reduction  in  the  price  of  goods  sold  to 
them,  and  from  this  misunderstanding  arose  the  troubles  leading 
later  to  the  Catawba  War  in  1714-15  (N.  Y.  Doc.  Col.  Hist.,  v,  444, 
1855). 

The  chiefs  of  the  Five  Nations,  in  conference  with  Gov.  Hunter  at 
Albany,  September  25,  1714,  acquainted  him  with  the  fact  that  the 
"Tuscarora  Indians  are  come  to  shelter  themselves  among  the  Five 
Nations;  they  were  of  us  and  went  from  us  long  ago,  and  now  are 
returned  and  promise  to  live  peaceably  among  us.  And  since  there 
is  peace  now  everywhere  we  have  received  them.  Do  give  a  belt 
of  wampum.  We  desire  you  to  look  upon  the  Tuscaroras  that  are 
come  to  live  among  us  as  our  children,  who  shall  obey  our  commands 


INDIANS  OF  NORTH  CAEOLINA.  185 

and  live  peaceably  and  orderly"  (N.  Y.  Doc.  Col.  Hist.,  v,  387,  1855). 
This  proposal,  for  it  was  practically  such,  was  not  yet  accepted  by 
the  New  York  government  in  1715  (ibid.,  413). 

On  June  23,  1712,  Gov.  Hunter,  of  New  York,  wrote  to  the  Lords 
of  Trade  that  "  the  war  betwixt  the  people  of  North  Carolina  and  the 
Tuscarora  Indians  is  like  to  embroil  us  all,"  and  expressed  the  fear 
that  under  French  instigation  the  Fi^e  Nations  would  fulfill  their 
threat  to  joint  the  Tuscarora  (ibid.,  343).  Again,  on  September  10, 
1713,  Hunter  wrote  to  Secretary  Popple  that  "the  Five  Nations  are 
hardly  to  be  diswaded  from  sheltering  the  Tuscaruro  Indians,  which 
would  embroil  us  all,"  and  expressed  regret  that  he  had  no  funds 
with  wliich  to  buy  presents  to  be  employed  in  dissuading  them  from 
forming  an  alliance  with  the  Tuscarora. 

On  September  10,  1713,  an  Onondaga  chief,  in  conference  with 
commissioners  from  Gov.  Hunter  at  Onondaga,  said:  ''Brother 
Corlaer  says  the  Queen's  subjects  towards  the  south  are  now  at  war 
with  the  tus-Carorase  Indians.  These  Indians  went  out  heretofore 
from  us,  and  ha,ve  settled  themselves  there;  now  they  have  got  into 
war  and  are  dispersed.  *  *  *  They  have  abandoned  their  castles 
and  are  scattered  hither  and  thither;  let  that  suffice;  and  we  request 
our  Brother  Corlaer  to  act  as  mediator  between  the  EngUsh  of  Car- 
relyna  and  the  Tuskaroras  that  they  may  no  longer  be  hunted  down, 
and  we  assure  that  we  will  obhge  them  not  to  do  the  English  any 
more  harm,  for  they  are  no  longer  a  nation  with  a  name,  being  once 
dispersed"  (N.  Y.  Doc.  Col.  Hist.,  v,  376,  1855). 

In  1717  Gov.  Hunter,  of  New  York,  informed  the  Five  Nations 
that  there  were  Virginia  traders  who  still  bartered  with  the  Tuscarora, 
thus  showing  that,  contrary  to  the  common  opinion,  there  were  still 
a  part  of  these  Indians  in  Carohna  and  southern  Virginia. 

In  a  letter  dated  at  Narhantes  Fort,  February  4, 1712,  Col.  BarnweU 
gives  a  list  of  the  various  tribes  of  Southern  Indians  who  composed 
his  motley  army.  In  his  own  spelUng  these  were:  The  Yamasses, 
Hog  Logees,  Apalatchees,  Corsaboy,  Watterees,  Sagarees,  Catawbas, 
Suterees,  Waxams,  Congarees,  Sattees,  Pedees,  Weneaws,  Cape  Feare, 
Hoopengs,  Wareperes,  Saraws,  and  Saxapahaws.  Fort  Narhantes, 
according  to  Barnwell,  was  the  largest  and  most  warhke  town  of  the 
Tuscarora.  It  was  situated  about  27  miles  below  a  former  settle- 
ment of  the  Saxapi\haw  or  "Shacioe  Indians,"  which  these  Indians 
had  been  forced  to  abandon  along  with  others  at  the  beginning  of 
February,  1712,  by  the  Narhantes  Tuscarora,  who  had  fallen  upon 
them  and  had  kiUed  16  persons,  owing  to  the  refusal  of  the  Saxapa- 
haw  to  join  the  Tuscarora  against  the  Enghsh.  The  Saxapahaw  had 
just  reached  the  Wattomas  when  Barnwell  arrived  there.  After 
reaching  Neuse  River,  Barnwell  numbered  his  men  before  crossing, 
and  found  that  he  had  498  Indians  and  33  white  men.  He  com- 
plained that  there  was  a  great  desertion  of  the  Indians;  that  only 
67  remained  of  Capt.  Bull's  200.  On  taking  Fort  Narhantes,  ''head 
Town  of  ye  Tuscaruros, "  on  January  30,  1712,  he  and  his  men  were 
greatly  surprised  and  puzzled  to  find  within  two  log  houses  much 
stronger  than  the  outer  fort.  After  gaining  an  entrance,  he  says, 
while  "we  were  putting  the  men  to  the  sword,  our  Indians  got  all 
the  slaves  and  the  plunder,  only  one  girl  we  gott. "  This  was  the 
strongest  fort  in  that  part  of  the  country.  His  loss  was  7  white  men 
killed  and  at  least  32  wounded;  the  Indian  loss  was  6  killed  and  28 


186  INDIAlSrS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA, 

wounded;  the  Tuscarora  loss  was  52  men  killed  and  at  least  10 
women,  and  30  prisoners.  Barnwell  was  much  chagrined  at  his  great 
loss,  "with  no  greater  execution  ot  ye  enemy.''  De  Graff enried,  in 
speaking  of  this  encounter,  says  he  "marched  against  a  great  Indian 
village,  called  Core,  about  30  miles  distant  from  Newbern,  drove  out 
the  King  and  his  forces,  and  carried  the  day  with  such  lury  that, 
after  they  had  killed  a  great  many,  in  order  to  stimulate  themselves 
still  more,  they  cooked  the  flesh  of  an  Indian  '  in  good  condition '  and 
ate  it. "  So  it  appears  that  Narhantes  was  a  Coree  village,  whose 
King  was  called  Cor  Tom.  Barnwell  then  advanced  on  Catechna, 
or  King  Hencock's  town,  in  which  had  taken  refuge  a  medley  of 
Indians  from  the  Weetock,  Bay,  Neuse,  Cor,  Pamlico,  and  a  portion 
of  the  Tuscarora  tribe.  After  two  assaults,  which  the  Indians  suc- 
cessfully repulsed,  Barnwell,  in  order  to  save  from  massacre  the  white 
prisoners  within  the  fort,  induced  the  Indians  to  enter  into  a  truce 
with  him  on  condition  that  the  white  prisoners  be  liberated;  and  he 
returned  to  Newbern  with  his  small  army  for  refreshment.  Barnwell 
had  hoped  for  great  honors  and  gifts  from  North  Carolina,  but  being 
disappointed  in  this  hope,  and  wishing  to  return  home  with  his  forces 
with  some  profit,  he  lured,  under  pretense  of  peace,  a  large  number 
of  the  Indians  to  the  neighborhood  of  Cor  village  and  then  broke  the 
truce  by  capturing  them  and  carrying  them  away  to  be  sold  into 
slavery.  This  naturally  incensed  the  Tuscarora  and  other  Carolina 
Indians,  and  caused  them  to  lose  all  confidence  in  the  word  of  a  white 
man.  This  change  of  affairs  resulted  in  repeated  raids  by  the  Indians 
along  Neuse  and  Pamlico  Rivers,  and  "the  last  troubles  were  worse 
than  the  first. " 

Solicitations  by  the  North  Carolina  authorities  were  made  to  the 
government  of  South  Carolina  for  new  aid,  which  was  granted,  under 
Col.  Moore,  with  a  body  of  33  white  men  and  more  than  900  Indian 
allies,  who  were  probably  reenforced  by  North  Carolina  recruits.  His 
objective  point  was  the  palisaded  town  of  Catechna,  or  Hencock's 
village.  Id  a  letter  dated  March  27,  1713,  to  President  Pollock,  of 
North  Carolina,  just  after  he  had  taken  the  palisaded  town  of  "Neo- 
heroka,"  in  Greene  County,  N.  C,  which  lay  on  his  route  to  Catechna, 
he  reported  that  the  attack  was  begun  on  the  20th  and  that  on  the 
morning  of  the  23d  "wee  had  gott  ye  fort  to  ye  ground. "  He  states 
that  the  prisoners  taken  were  392,  that  the  scalps  taken  in  the  fort 
numbered  192,  that  there  were  200  killed  and  burned  in  the  fort,  and 
166  persons  lolled  and  taken  "out  of  ye  fort  on  ye  Scout,"  a  total  of 
950.  His  own  loss  was  22  white  men  killed  and  36  wounded;  the 
loss  of  his  Indians  was  35  killed  and  58  wounded.  This  severe  loss 
so  iiwed  the  Tuscarora  that  they  abandoned  Fort  "Cohunche, "  situ- 
ated at  Hencock's  town,  and  migrated  northward  toward  the  territory 
of  the  Five  Nations. 

Prior  to  the  arrival  of  Col.  Moore,  President  Pollock  had  entered 
into  an  arrangement  with  Tom  Blunt,  the  leading  chief  of  the  "North- 
ern Tuscarora, "  to  seize  Chief  Hencock,  who  was  the  reputed  head 
of  the  hostile  Tuscarora,  and  to  bring  him  alive  to  the  President  for 
the  purpose  of  adjusting  their  mutal  difficulties  and  to  negotiate 
peace.     Blunt's  Tuscarora  were  to  destroy  the  hostiles  who  had  taken 

Eart  in  the  massacre  and  to  deliver  hostages  for   their  own  good 
ehavior — this  arrangement  was  to  continue  only  until  the  new  year. 
After  the  defeat  of  the  Tuscarora  by  Moore,  another  treaty  was  made 


INDIANS   OP    NORTH   CAROLINA.  187 

with  Tom  Blunt  and  his  Tuscarora,  thus  leaving  as  hostile  only  the 
small  tribes  of  the  Coree,  Matamuskeet,  and  Catechna.  All  of  Moore's 
Indians  except  about  180  returned  to  South  Carolina  to  sell  their 
captives  into  slavery.  With  the  remaining  forces  Moore  soon  reduced 
and  drove  away  the  few  remaining  hostiles. 

The  date  of  the  adoption  of  the  Tuscarora  into  the  Council  Board 
of  the  League  of  the  Iroquois,  through  the  Oneida,  their  political 
sponsors,  is  indefinite,  judging  from  the  differing  dates,  ranging  from 
1712  to  1715,  given  by  various  well-informed  writers.  In  their  forced 
migration  northward  the  Tuscarora  did  not  all  decamp  at  once.  The 
hostiles  and  their  most  apprehensive  sympathizers  were  most  proba- 
bly the  first  to  leave  their  ancient  homes  m  North  Carohna.  On  the 
total  defeat  and  dispersion  of  the  hostile  Tuscarora  and  their  allies 
in  1713,  the  scattered  fragments  of  tribes  fled  and  sought  asylum 
with  other  tribes,  among  whom  their  identity  was  not  always  main- 
tained. Although  the  Five  Nations  gave  asylum  to  the  fugitive 
Tuscarora,  there  is  also  abundant  evidence  that,  for  political  reasons 
perhaps,  the  Tuscarora  were  not  for  many  years  after  their  flight 
from  North  Carolina  formally  admitted  into  the  Council  Board  of 
the  League  of  the  Five  Nations  as  a  constitutive  member.  The  fact 
is  that  the  Tuscarora  were  90  years  in  removing  from  their  North 
Carolina  home  to  more  friendly  dweUing-places  in  the  north,  and 
there  is  no  evidence  that  they  were  formally  incorporated  into  the 
confederation  of  the  Five  Nations,  as  a  coequal  member,  before  Sep- 
tember, 1722.  On  September  6,  1722,  Gov.  Burnet  held  a  confer- 
ence with  the  Five  Nations  at  Albany,  at  which  Gov.  Spotswood,  of 
Virginia,  was  present.  For  the  purpose  of  preventing  forays  between 
the  Five  Nations  and  their  allies  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Southern 
Indians  on  the  other,  Spotswood  induced  the  Five  Nations  to  consent 
to  the  running  of  a  dividing  line  along  the  Potomac  and  the  high  ridge 
of  the  AUegany  Mountains.  This  agreement  was  made  in  the  name 
of  the  Five  Nations  and  the  Tuscarora,  indicating  that  the  latter  had 
become  a  factor  in  the  councils  of  the  League  of  the  Iroquois.  In 
closing  the  conference,  it  is  stated  that  the  Indians  ''gave  six  shouts — ■ 
five  for  the  Five  Nations  and  one  for  the  castle  of  Tuscaroras,  lately 
seated  between  the  Oneidas  and  Onondagas. "  The  record  continues 
that  at  the  conclusion  of  this  conference,  on  September  13,  the  Five 
Nations  sought  a  special  interview  with  the  governor  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  that  on  September  14  the  governor  received  "  the  10  chiefs  of  the 
Five  Nations,  being  two  from  each,  together  with  two  others,  said  to 
be  of  the  Tuscororoes. "  This  appears  to  be  the  first  official  mention 
of  the  Tuscarora  as  taking  part  in  the  management  of  the  public 
affairs  of  the  league.  The  Tuscacora  mentioned  here,  however,  did 
not  include  those  who  dwelt  on  the  Juniata  and  on  the  Susquehanna 
at  Oquaga  and  its  environs,  nor  those  still  in  North  Carolina. 

In  a  petition  of  John  Armstrong  for  land  lying  in  Tuscarora  Valley, 
on  Juniata  River,  Pa.,  about  6  miles  from  the  mouth  of  Tuscarora 
Creek,  the  Indians  living  there  at  that  time  are  called  Lakens;  this 
land  was  taken  up  by  Armstrong  on  February  3,  1755.  On  the  same 
day  George  Armstrong  obtained  a  warrant  for  land  situated  on  the 
south  side  of  Tuscarora  Creek,  "opposite  to  the  settlement  of  the 
Indians,  called  Lackens. "  It  would  thus  appear  that  at  this  date 
this  band  of  Tuscarora  were  known,  at  least  locally,  as  Lakens  or 
Lackens. 


188  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Elias  Johnson,  in  his  legends,  says  that  it  was  the"  Seneca  who  first 
adopted  the  Tuscarora  as  a  constituent  member  of  the  league.  This, 
however,  is  at  variance  with  the  common  but  authentic  traditions  of 
all  the  tribes  and  with  the  official  statement  of  Col.  (afterward  Sir) 
Wilham  Johnson  to  the  Oneida,  made  at  Mount  Johnson,  September 
8,  1753.  He  said,  "Brethren  of  Oneida.  *  *  *  yij  j^gg^  advice 
is  to  have  your  castles  as  near  together  as  you  conveniently  can  with 
the  Tuscaroras,  who  belong  to  you  as  children,  and  the  Scanihade- 
radighroones,  lately  come  into  your  alliance  or  families,  which  makes 
it  necessary  for  me  to  fix  a  new  string  to  the  cradle  which  was  hung 
up  by  your  forefathers  when  they  received  the  Tuscaroras,  *  *  * 
to  feed  and  protect.  " 

After  the  close  of  the  war  of  1711-1713  in  North  Carolina,  the  neu- 
tral Tuscarora,  with  remnants  of  allied  tribes  still  remaining  in  that 
country,  were  placed  under  the  rule  of  Chief  Tom  Blunt,  or  Blount, 
by  treaty  with  the  provincial  government  of  North  Carolina.  From 
an  act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Carohna,  in  1778,  it  is  learned 
that  Withmell  Tuff  dick  was  then  the  ruling  chief;  but  the  last  ruling 
chief  of  the  North  Carolina  Tuscarora  was  Samuel  Smith,  who  died 
in  1802. 

In  1767,  the  renown  of  the  Moravian  mission  station  at  Frieden- 
shuetten  (q.  v.)  in  Pennsylvania  was  so  great  that  many  Indians 
from  various  tribes,  including  the  Tuscarora,  probably  from  Oquaga, 
Ingaren,  and  vicinity,  were  constantly  stopping  there.  Many  passed 
through  it  merely  to  see  a  place  so  famous  for  its  hospitality.  In 
May,  1766,  seventy-five  Tuscarora,  according  to  Loskiel,  on  their 
way  from  North  Carolina,  halted  here  and  remained  for  some  weeks. 
They  are  described  as  lazy  and  "refuse  to  hear  rehgion. "  During 
their  stay  the  Tuscarora  were  so  alarmed  at  the  sight  of  the  first 
snow  that  they  left  their  huts  down  by  the  river  and  took  refuge 
with  the  missionaries.  A  number  of  Tuscarora  arrived  at  the  mission 
to  remain  there;  these  had  planted  their  crops  during  1766  at  the 
mouth  of  Tuscarora  Creek,  Wyoming  County,  Pa. 

On  December  16,  1766,  Sir  William  Johnson  received  at  Mount  John- 
son, N.  Y.,  160  Tuscarora  who  had  just  arrived  from  North  Carolina. 
They  complained  to  him  that  on  their  way  thither  they  had  been 
robbed  at  Paxtang,  in  Pennsylvania,  of  their  horses  and  other  prop- 
erty to  the  value  of  about  S300. 

Later  the  Tuscarora  on  the  Susquehanna,  dwelling  at  Oquaga  and 
in  its  vicinity,  had  lands  assigned  them  by  the  Oneida,  their  political 
sponsors.  These  lands  were  bounded  on  the  east  by  Unadilla  River, 
on  the  west  by  the  Chenango,  and  on  the  south  by  the  Susquehanna. 
In  the  northern  part  of  this  allotment  were  situated  the  towns  of 
Ganasaraga,  on  the  site  of  Sullivan,  Madison  County,  N.  Y.,  and 
Kannehsuntahkeh.  A  number  of  the  Tuscarora  lived  with  the 
Oneida  in  their  chief  village.  On  these  lands  a  large  portion  of  the 
Tuscarora  remained  until  the  events  of  the  Revolution  displaced 
them.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Fort  Herkimer  in  1785  with 
the  State  of  New  York,  to  which  the  Tuscarora  were  nominal  parties, 
the  Oneida,  the  original  proprietors  of  the  lands  then  occupied  by 
the  Tuscarora,  conveyed  to  New  York  the  lands  of  the  Tuscarora 
and  retained  the  proceeds  of  the  sale ;  thus  the  Tuscarora  were  again 
without  a  home.  Thereafter  they  became  dispersed.  Later  they 
had  a  village  called  Junastriyo  (Tcunastri'  io')  in  the  Genessee  VaUey, 


INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  189 

below  Avon,  N.  Y.;  another,  called  Jutaneaga  (Tcutanen"  Ida'),  at 
the  fork  of  Chittenango  Creek;  and  another  called  Kanhato  (Ka'n- 
'ha^nii'). 

According  to  Johnson  Qegends,  etc.),  a  part  of  the  fugitive  Tus- 
carora  settled  at  a  point  about  2  miles  west  of  Tamaqua,  Schuylkill 
County,  Pa.,  where  they  planted  apple  trees  and  lived  for  a  number 
of  years.  It  is  probable  that  it  was  these  Tuscarora  who  later  re- 
moved to  Oquaga,  in  the  vicinity  of  which  they  had  three  other 
towns  in  1778.  Another  band  of  fugitives  settled  in  Tuscarora 
Valley  (as  it  was  called  later  from  them),  on  Juniata  River,  Pa. 
They  remained  here  at  least  as  late  as  1762.  In  a  minute  of  a  con- 
ference held  at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  August  11,  1762,  between  Lieut.  Gov. 
Hamilton  of  Pennsylvania  and  delegates  from  the  Ohio  Delawares, 
the  Tuscarora  of  Oquaga  and  Lower  Tuscarora,  the  Shawnee,  the 
Kickapoo,  the  Wea,  and  the  Miami,  it  is  stated  that  six  Tuscarora 
were  present,  of  whom  three  were  chiefs,  who  brought  from  their 
people  a  letter  in  which  they  asked  the  governor  to  furnish  them 
with  a  pass,  saying,  ''We  should  be  glad  to  be  informed  of  the  state 
and  behavior  of  our  brethren  in  Tuscarora  Valley,  and  to  have  some 
directions  about  the  way,  as  we  propose  to  make  them  a  visit,  and 
also  should  be  glad  of  a  pass  or  recommendation  in  writing,  that  we 
may  be  friendly  received  on  our  way  to  and  at  the  valley." 

Major  portions  of  the  Oneida  and  the  Tuscarora,  in  accordance 
with  standing  agreements  with  the  United  Colonies,  remained  faithful 
to  the  American  cause  during  the  Revolution.  When  the  Indian 
allies  of  the  British,  even  some  of  their  brethren  of  the  Six  Nations, 
learned  that  a  majority  of  the  Tuscarora  had  cast  their  lot  with  the 
Colonies,  they  invaded  the  Tuscarora  country,  burned  their  lodges, 
and  destroyed  their  crops  and  other  property.  Thus  again  by  the 
fortunes  of  war  the  Tuscarora  were  scattered  and  homeless.     A  large 

Earty  of  these  settled  at  a  place  called  Oyonwayea,  or  Johnson's 
anding,  in  Niagara  County,  N.  Y.,  about  4  miles  east  of  the  outlet 
of  Niagara  River,  at  the  mouth  of  Four  Mile  Creek,  in  order  not  to 
be  directly  among  the  many  Indians  friendly  to  the  British  cause 
camped  around  Fort  Niagara.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  two  families, 
probably  clans,  of  Tuscarora  from  Oyonwayea,  made  their  way  to 
the  northeast  limits  of  their  present  reservation,  where  they  found 
many  walnuts  and  butternuts,  and  a  fine  stream.  Here  they  decided 
to  winter.  Being  missed  from  Oyonwayea,  scouts  were  sent  out, 
who  found  them  in  their  newly  chosen  settlement,  a  situation  so 
favorable  that,  after  the  gratuitous  cession  of  their  former  home 
among  the  Oneida,  Oyonwayea  was  abandoned  and  all  the  families 
removed  to  the  new  site.  Although  the  Tuscarora  had  only  a  tacit 
pel  mission  from  the  Seneca  to  reside  at  this  place,  the  last  settlement 
became  the  foundation  of  the  present  Tuscarora  reservation  in  New 
York.-  At  the  treaty  held  at  Genessee,  September  15,  1797,  between 
Robert  Morris  and  the  Seneca  Tribe,  the  Tuscarora  chiefs  complained 
for  the  first  time  since  their  admission  to  the  councils  of  the  league, 
that  the  Five  Nations  had  from  time  to  time  allotted  lands  to  their 
people,  but  that  each  time  these  lands  had  been  included  in  a  sub- 
sequent cession  to  the  whites,  and  that  the  Tuscarora  had  received 
nothing  in  return  for  their  right  of  occupancy  or  for  their  improve- 
ments. The  justice  and  merits  of  their  complaint  having  been 
acknowledged  by  the  Five  Nations,  Morris  reserved  to  the  Tuscarora, 


190  INDIANS    OF    NORTH    CAROLINA. 

by  grant,  2  square  miles,  covering  their  settlement  on  the  ridge  men- 
tioned above,  and  the  Seneca  thereupon  granted  them  an  adjoining 
square  mile.  About  1800-1802  a  deputation  was  sent  to  North  Car- 
olina to  learn  whether  they  could  obtain  funds  in  payment  for  the 
lands  they  formerly  occupied  there,  with  the  result  that,  by  aid  of  the 
North  Carolina  Legislature,  they  were  able  to  lease  the  Carolina  lands, 
which  yielded  a  fund  of  S13,722.  This  sum  enabled  the  Secretary  of 
War  in  1804,  under  authority  of  Congress,  to  purchase  4,329  acres  for 
the  Tuscarora  from  the  Holland  Land  Co.,  adjoining  the  3  square 
miles  already  occupied  by  them.  Such  is  the  origin  of  the  land 
holdings  of  the  New  York  Tuscarora. 

It  was  while  the  Tuscarora  deputation  was  in  North  Carolina  that 
the  renmant  of  the  tribe  still  residing  there  was  brought  to  the  north 
and  joined  their  brethren  in  New  York  State. 

The  Tuscarora  in  sympathy  with  those  of  the  Six  Nations  that 
adhered  to  the  cause  of  Great  Britain  in  the  Revolution  were  granted 
lands  in  severalty  on  Grand  River  Reservation,  Ontario. 

The  evangelizing  work  of  Christian  missionaries  began  among  the 
Tuscarora  in  western  New  York  as  early  as  1805  under  the  patronage 
of  the  New  York  Missionary  Society.  At  first  there  were  only  six 
persons  among  the  Tuscarora  willing  to  abjure  their  ancient  faith 
and  customs,  at  least  in  name  and  appearance,  and  join  in  the  mis- 
sionary work;  the  remainder  were  generally  strongly  averse  to  the 
work  of  the  missionaries.  So  violent  were  the  struggles  between  the 
two  unequal  parties  that  in  the  spring  of  1820  the  "pagans"  suc- 
ceeded in  inducing  about  70  persons  to  emigrate  to  Canada,  where 
they  settled  among  the  pagans  of  the  Six  Nations  on  the  Grand 
River  Reservation,  Ontario.  The  church  membership  at  this  time 
was  16  persons.  Little  progress  was  apparent  in  the  education  of 
the  Tuscarora,  although  the  New  York  Society  had  maintained  a 
school  among  them. 

Ethnology. — The  Tuscarora  in  Nev/  York  are  governed  by  a  council 
of  irresponsible  chiefs,  for  the  Indians  have  forgotten  and  so  neglect 
the  means  to  be  employed  in  enforcing  the  will  of  the  clan  in  case  a 
chief  fails  in  his  plain  duty;  the  criminal  law  of  New  York  at  this 
point  nullifies  the  early  sovereignty  of  the  clan  over  its  members. 
In  common  with  the  other  tribes  of  the  Iroquoian  linguistic  stock, 
the  Tuscarora  traced  the  descent  of  blood  through  the  line  of  the 
mother,  and  made  the  civil  and  official  military  chieftainships  heredi- 
tary in  the  oTiwatcira  of  certain  clans  (see  Clans)  over  which  the 
women  chiefs  and  the  elder  women  presided.  The  simplest  political 
unit  was  the  oJiwatcira,  of  which  one  or  more  constituted  a  clan, 
which  was  the  simplest  organized  political  unit.  The  Tuscarora  were 
constituted  of  at  least  eight  clans,  which  primitively  were  organized 
into  phratries.  There  are  no  data,  other  than  those  furnished  by 
tradition  and  analogy,  as  to  the  organization  of  the  Tuscarora  con- 
federation. The  clans  were  exogamic  as  to  their  own  members,  as 
were  also  the  phratries  in  primitive  times.  The  Tuscarora  of  New 
York  being  completely  isolated  from  any  of  their  own  people  who 
still  profess  their  ancient  dogmas  and  beliefs  and  who  still  practice 
their  ancient  rites  and  ceremonies,  have  preserved  only  a  hazy 
recollection  of  their  early  customs,  ceremonies,  and  rites;  even  less 
do  they  comprehend  the  meaning  of  the  ceremonies  still  practiced  by 
the  so-called  pagan  members  of  cognate  tribes.     They  are  aU  pro- 


IISTDIAlSrS   OF    N-QETH:   CAEOLIlSrA.  191 

fessed  Cliristians,  and  so  turn  away  from  the  old  forms  of  thought 
and  practice  of  their  ancestors. 

The  exact  number  of  clans  still  existing  among  the  Tuscarora  is 
not  definitely  known,  for  the  native  authorities  themselves  do  not 
agree  on  the  number  and  the  names  of  those  still  recognized — some 
informants  give  seven,  while  others  with  equal  credibility  give  eight. 
There  is  likewise  some  diversity  in  regard  to  the  correct  names  of 
certain  clans.  One  list  has  Bear,  Wolf,  Turtle,  Beaver,  Deer,  Eel, 
and  Snipe ;  another  has  Bear,  Eel,  Large  Turtle,  Small  Turtle,  Beaver, 
Deer,  Wolf,  and  Snipe;  still  another  list  has  Bear,  Eel,  Deer,  Turtle, 
Gray  Wolf,  Yellow  Wolf,  Beaver,  and  Snipe;  and  yet  another  is  like 
the  last,  except  that  the  Turtle  clan  is  replaced  by  the  clans  Small 
Turtle  and  Large  Turtle.  Like  differences  appear  in  the  lists  of 
clans  of  the  other  Iroquois  tribes. 

The  names  of  the  civil  chiefs  still  in  use  among  the  present  two 
divisions  of  the  Tuscarora  (that  in  Ontario  and  the  other  in  western 
New  York)  are:  (A)  Sdhwari"prd'  (Sacharissa),  'The  spear  trailer'; 
Ni'hawenan'a',  'His  Yoice  is  small' ;  Hotio'JcvMVJd"li:e'^' ,  'He  holds  or 
grasps  the  multitude,'  or  possibly,  'He  holds  or  grasps  his  own  loins' ; 
these  three  belong  to  the  Turtle  clan.  (B)  NdJcdien'ie'^'  (signification 
not  clear);  UtaJcwa'teYa^,  'The  Bear  clib' ;  lonentcJidneh^TiaJce'^',  'Its 
fore-paw  pressed  against  its  breast' ;  these  three  belong  to  the  Bear 
clan.  (C)  Ndio'Jcdwe'^' a  (signification  not  known) ;  A'eiotchd'Jc'don', 
'It  is  bent' ;  these  two  belong  to  the  Wolf  clan.  (D)  Karondawa"Jce'^' , 
'One  is  holding  the  tree' ;  ThandddJc'hvjd'  (signification  not  clear) ; 
these  two  belong  to  the  Snipe  clan.  (E)  Eari'hen'tid' ,  'It  goes  along 
teaching';  Ni'Jino'lcd'ivd' ,  'He  annoints  the  hide';  NdJcd'Jienwd"f^Jien, 
'It  is  twenty  canoes' ;  these  three  belong  to  the  Beaver  clan.  Among 
the  Canadian  Tuscarora  on  Grand  River  Reservation,  Ontario,  the 
first  and  last  names  of  the  Turtle  clan,  the  first  title  of  the  Wolf 
clan,  and  the  first  title  of  the  Snipe  clan  appear  to  be  the  only  ones 
now  in  use,  although  these  four  titles  are  questionably  also  in  use 
among  the  New  York  Tuscarora. 

There  is  no  definite  uiformation  available  as  to  the  former  and 
more  complete  organization  into  clan  phratries.  Some  of  the  trans- 
lations of  the  chieftain  titles  above  would  seem  to  indicate  that  they 
were  originally  designations  of  some  habit,  attitude,  or  other  char- 
acteristic feature  of  the  clan  tutelary  or  patron,  questionably  caUed 
"totem."  The  clan  name,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  is  not  the 
ordinar}^  name  of  the  clan  guardian  or  patron,  but  is  rather  descrip- 
tive of  some  feature  or  attitude,  or  is  the  name  of  the  usual  habitat, 
of  the  tutelary;  for  example,  the  name  of  the  Bear  clan  signifies 
literally,  'Broken-off  tail';  that  of  the  Plover  or  Killdee  (Snipe) 
'Clean-sand  people';  that  of  the  Beaver,  'People  of  the  stream'; 
that  of  the  Turtle  clan,  'Chmbing-the-mountain  people,'  named  from 
the  position  of  the  turtle  basking,  etc.  It  is  probable  that  plover 
killdee  should  be  substituted  in  the  foregoing  lists  of  clans,  for  the 
name  clearly  refers  to  the  killdee's  habit  of  running  along  the  clean 
sand  at  the  water's  edge. 

De  Graffenried  gives  (N.  C.  Col.  Rec,  i,  905  et  seq.)  an  interesting 
account  of  the  preparations  made  for  the  execution  of  Lawson  and 
himself  by  the  hostile  Tuscarora.  In  the  open  space  or  pubhc  square 
mentioned  there  was  a  large  fire,  near  which  was  the  shaman  or  high 
priest,  a  grizzled  sorcerer,  who  made  two  white  rings  on  the  ground, 


192  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

whether  of  flour  or  wliite  sand  was  not  stated.  In  front  of  the  two 
victims  was  placed  a  wolf  skin,  and  a  short  distance  farther  there 
stood  an  Indian  in  a  terrifying  posture,  holding  in  one  hand  a  knife 
and  in  the  other  a  tomahawk;  he  was  apparently  the  executioner. 
He  did  not  move  from  the  spot.  On  the  farther  side  of  the  fire  were 
assembled  young  men,  women,  and  children,  who  danced  with  weird 
and  frightful  contortions  and  attitudes.  In  the  center  of  the  circle 
of  dancers  were  seated  two  singers  who  intoned  a  dismal  song,  *  'rather 
fit  to  provoke  tears  and  anger  than  joy."  Within  the  circle  of  dan- 
cers the  shaman  stood  unterrified,  uttering  his  threatenings  and 
adjurations  and  performing  his  exorcisms  against  the  foes  of  his 
people  and  their  orenda  or  ''medicine,"  when  there  would  come  a 
pause  in  the  dancing.  Finally,  with  shouts  and  howls  the  dancers 
ran  into  the  neighboring  forests.  In  a  short  time  they  returned  with 
their  faces  painted  black,  white,  and  red,  in  bands,  and  with  their 
hair  loose  and  flying,  oiled  and  sprmkled  with  fine  down  or  cotton 
from  the  cattail  flag  and  with  small  white  feathers,  and  some  returned 
arrayed  in  aU  kinds  of  furs.  After  their  return,  the  dance  was 
renewed.  Back  of  the  two  victims  stood  a  double  line  of  armed 
wariiors  who  kept  their  posts  until  everything  was  over ;  back  of  this 
guard  was  the  council  of  war,  whose  members  were  seated  on  the 
ground  in  a  circle,  gravely  deUberating  on  the  fate  of  the  two  noted 
prisoners.  FinaUy,  they  acted  on  the  advice  of  "King"  Tom  Blunt, 
the  headchief  of  their  neighbors,  "the  villages  of  the  Tuscaroros," 
properly  so  called,  that  King  Hencock  should  hberate  De  Graffen- 
ried,  and  could  deal  with  Lawson  as  he  and  his  council  pleased.  The 
manner  of  Lawson's  death,  as  learned  from  Indian  information,  is 
found  in  a  letter  of  Maj.  Christopher  Gale  to  his  brother,  Nov.  2,  1711, 
wherem  it  is  said  that  the  Indians  stuck  the  unfortunate  prisoner 
"full  of  fine  small  splinters  of  torchwood,  Hke  hogs'  bristles,  and  so 
set  them  gradually  on  fire."  De  Graffenried  was  not  permitted  to 
know  how  Lawson  was  executed. 

To  this  account  of  the  Tuscarora  method  of  preparing  for  the 
execution  of  captives  may  be  added  their  triumphal  ceremonies 
which  De  Graffenrid  says  they  performed  after  their  defeat  of  a  relief 
party  of  Swiss  and  Palatines.  He  reports  that  they  built  bonfires 
at  night,  and  especially  a  large  one  in  the  place  of  executions,  where 
they  raised  "three  wolf's  hides,  figurmg  as  many  protectors  or  gods," 
to  which  offerings,  consisting  of  their  jewels,  were  made  by  the 
women.  In  the  middle  of  the  cricle,  the  chief  shaman  performed  all 
manner  of  contortions,  conjurations,  and  imprecations  against  the 
enemies  of  his  country,  while  the  populace  danced  in  a  circle  around 
the  wolf  hides. 

The  council  of  "King"  Hencock,  which  consisted  of  40  elders, 
was  caUed  by  the  Tuscarora,  according  to  De  Graffenried,  the  "As- 
sembly of  the  Great,"  a  translation  of  the  Tuscarora  terms  for  the 
council  of  chiefs,  the  general  word  for  chief  signifying  'one  is  great,' 
either  in  size  or  position.  At  the  council  before  which  Lawson  and 
De  Graffenried  were  tried  the  "forty  elders"  were  seated  around  a 
great  fire  kindled  in  a  large  open  space  devoted  to  important  festivals 
and  pubhc  executions.  On  this  occasion  these  chiefs  and  the  accused 
were  seated  on  rush  mats,  which  were  customarily  provided  for  the 
comfort  of  guests  as  a  mark  of  deference  and  honor.  Although  the 
two  captives  were  acquitted  by  the  first  council,  they  were  again 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  193 

tried  before  a  second  council,  after  Lawson  incautiously  had  liad  a 
bitter  quarrel  with  Cor  Tom,  the  chief  of  Cor  town,  who  was  not  at 
the  first  council.  The  two  captives  were  not  given  mats  upon  which 
to  sit,  and  Lawson  was  condemned  to  death  and  De  Graff enried  was 
acquitted. 

Lawson  asserts  that  the  most  powerful  tribe  ''scorns  to  treat  or 
trade  with  any  others,  of  fewer  numbers  and  less  power  in  any  other 
tongue  but  their  own,  which  serves  for  the  Ungua  of  the  country; 
with  which  we  travel  and  deal."  As  an  example  of  this,  the  Tusca- 
rora  are  cited.  Being  the  most  numerous  tribe  in  North  Carolina, 
their  language  was  necessarily  understood  by  some  persons  in  every 
town  of  all  the  neighboring  tribes. 

The  Tuscarora  carried  on  a  pernicious  trade  in  rum  with  the 
Indians  dwelling  to  their  westward.  In  1708  rum  had  been  but 
recently  introduced  among  the  latter,  chiefly  by  the  Tuscarora,  who 
transported  it  in  rundlets  several  hundred  miles,  amongst  other 
Indians.  They  sold  it  at  "so  many  mouthfuls  for  a  buckskin,  they 
never  using  any  other  measure,"  the  buyer  always  choosing  a  man 
having  the  largest  mouth  possible  to  accompany  him  to  the  market, 
and  the  mouthful  was  scrupulously  emptied  into  a  bowl  brought  for 
the  purpose.  The  Tuscarora  also  traded  with  the  Shakori  and 
Occaneechi,  selling  them  wooden  bowls  and  ladles  for  rawhides. 

Their  lodges,  usually  round  in  form,  were  constructed  of  poles, 
covered  with  the  bark  of  cypress,  red  or  white  cedar,  or  sometimes 

Eine.  At  one  place  Lawson  met  more  than  500  Tuscarora  in  one 
ody  in  a  hunting  camp.  They  had  constructed  their  lodges  with 
bark,  "not  with  round  tops,  as  they  commonly  use,  but  ridge  fashion, 
after  the  manner  of  most  Indians."  Among  them  he  found  much 
corn,  while  meat  and  venison  were  scarce,  because  of  the  great  num- 
ber of  people,  for  although  they  were  expert  hunters,  they  were  too 
populous  for  one  range. 

According  to  Lawson,  the  native  Tuscarora  of  North  Carolina  had 
rather  flat  bodies,  due  probably  to  the  fact  that  in  early  infancy  the 
children  were  swathed  to  cradle-boards.  He  adds:  "They  are  not  of 
so  robust  and  strong  bodies  as  to  lift  great  burdens,  and  endm^e  labor 
and  slavish  work,  as  Europeans  are;  yet  some  that  are  slaves  prove 
very  good  and  laborious."  They  were  dextrous  and  steady,  and 
collected  in  the  use  of  their  hands  and  feet;  their  bearing  was  sedate 
and  majestic;  their  eyes  were  commonly  full  and  manly,  being  black 
or  dark  hazel  in  color,  and  the  white  of  the  eye  was  usually  marbled 
with  red  Hues;  their  skin  was  tawny,  and  somewhat  darkened  by 
the  habit  of  anointing  it  with  bear's  oil  and  a  pigment  resembling 
burnt  cork.  When  they  wished  to  be  very  fine  they  mixed  with  the 
oil  a  certain  red  powder  made  from  a  scarlet  root  growing  in  the  hilly 
country.  This  root  was  held  in  great  esteem  among  them,  selling  it 
one  to  another  at  a  very  high  price,  on  account  of  the  distance  from 
which  it  came  and  the  danger  to  which  they  were  exposed  in  obtain- 
ing it.  The  Tuscarora  and  other  Indians  attempted  to  cultivate 
this  plant,  but  it  would  not  grow  in  their  land.  As  a  substitute  they 
sometimes  used  puccoon  root,  which  also  has  a  crimson  color,  but 
this  dyed  the  h^u"  an  ugly  hue.  The  heads  even  of  the  aged  were 
scarcely  ever  bald;  their  teeth  were  tinged  yeUow  from  smoking 
tobacco,  to  which  habit  both  men  and  women  were  much  addicted; 

75321" — S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 13 


194  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA. 

they,  however,  did  not  snuff  or  chew  tobacco.  They  plucked  the  hair 
from  their  faces  and  bodies.  There  were  but  few  deformed  or  crip- 
pled persons  among  them. 

The  Tuscarora  had  many  dances  suitable  to  various  occasions; 
these  as  a  rule  were  accompanied  with  pubhc  feasts  prepared  under 
the  direction  of  the  women  chiefs.  Every  dance  had  its  pecuUar 
song,  but  probably  was  not  changed  for  every  occasion  on  which 
the  dance  was  performed,  although  Lawson  states  that  ''all  these 
songs  are  made  new  for  every  feast;  nor  is  one  and  the  same  song 
sung  at  two  several  festivals.  Some  one  of  the  nation,  which  has 
the  best  gift  of  expressing  their  designs,  is  appointed  by  their  king 
and  war  captains  to  make  these  songs."  To  these  festivals  the 
people  came  from  all  the  towns  within  50  or  60  m.,  ''where  they  buy 
and  sell  several  commodities." 

The  Tuscarora,  in  Hke  measure  with  the  northern  Iroquois,  were 
passionately  given  to  gaming,  frequently  stripping  one  another  of 
every  piece  of  property  available.  Sometimes  they  went  even  so 
far  as  to  bet  themselves  away  to  the  winner,  readily  becoming  his 
slave  until  he  or  his  relatives  could  pay  the  redemption  price;  never- 
theless they  bore  their  losses  with  great  equanimity,  no  matter  how 
ruinous  they  were.  Among  their  games  was  that  of  a  bundle  of  51 
spHt  reeds  about  7  in.  in  length  and  neatly  made.  The  game  con- 
sisted in  throwing  a  part  of  the  bundle  before  an  opponent,  who 
must  on  sight  guess  the  number  thrown.  It  is  said  that  experts 
were  able  to  tell  the  number  correctly  ten  times  in  ten  throws.  A 
set  of  these  reeds  was  valued  at  a  dressed  doeskin.  The  Tus-^arora 
also  had  the  well-known  bowl  and  plum-seed  game,  which  is  such 
an  important  adjunct  to  the  thanksgiving  festivals  of  the  northern 
Iroquois.  They  also  had  a  number  of  other  games,  but  some  of  their 
neighbors  had  games  which  they  did  not  have. 

There  were  feasts  among  the  Tuscarora  when  several  villages 
united  to  celebrate  some  event  or  when  two  or  more  tribes  assembled 
to  negotiate  peace.  There  were  feasts  and  dances  of  thanksgiving, 
and  invocations  to  the  gods  that  watched  over  their  harvests,  when 
their  crops  were  garnered  and  when  the  first  fruits  of  the  year  were 
gathered. 

Population. — No  trustworthy  estimates  of  the  Tuscarora  popula- 
tion at  any  given  date,  exclusive  of  those  of  Lawson  and  Barnwell, 
previous  to  1830,  are  available  for  the  entire  Tuscarora  people.  The 
earliest  and  perhaps  most  authoritative  estimate  of  the  total  Tusca- 
rora population  at  a  given  time  was  that  of  Lawson  in  1708.  His  esti- 
mate of  15  towns  and  1,200  fighting  men  would  indicate  a  population 
of  about  4,800  at  that  date;  Col.  Barnwell's  figures  are  somewhat 
larger  than  Lawson's,  though  they  appear  to  be  conservative;  his 
estimate  was  1,200  to  1,400  warriors,  or  a  maximum  population  of 
about  5,600  persons.  The  estimate  of  Chauvignerie  in  1736  was  250 
warriors,  or  about  1,000  persons.  His  estimate  was  restricted  to  the 
Tuscarora  living  near  Oneida,  N.  Y.,  hence  did  not  include  those  living 
in  North  Carolina  or  on  the  Susquehanna  and  Juniata  rs.  Other  esti- 
mates of  this  group  give  them  1,000  (1765),  2,000  (1778),  1,000  (1783) 
400  (1796),  in  the  United  States;  414  (1885)  in  New  York  and  an  equal 
number  in  Canada,  or  a  total  of  828;  364  (1909)  in  New  York,  and 
416  (1910)  in  Canada,  a  total  of  780. 


nSTDIANS    OF    NOETH    CAEOLINA.  195 

Settlements. — The  following  Tuscarora  to^\^ls  have  been  mentioned 
in  writings  pertaining  to  this  people:  Annaooka,  Chunaneets,  Coern- 
tha,  Cohunche,  Conauhkare,  Contahnah,  Cotechney,  Coram,  Corutra, 
Eno,  Ganasaraga,  Ganatisgowa,  Harooka,  Harutawaqni,  Ingaren, 
Junastriyo,  Jutaneaga,  Kanhato,  Kaunehsuntahkeh,  Kenta,  Kenta- 
nuska,  Naiirheglme,  Nonawharitse,  Niirsoorooka,  Nyuchirhaan, 
Ohagi,  Oonossora,  Oneida  (in  part),  Oqiiaga,  Shawhiangto,  Tasqui, 
Tiochcrungwe,  Tonarooka,  Torhunte,  Tosneoc,  Tuscarora,  Unanau- 
han,  Ucoulmerunt.  Some  of  these  towns  were  in  North  Carolina, 
others  on  Juniata  r.  in  Pennsylvania,  others  on  the  Susquehanna  in 
Pennsylvania,  others  on  the  Susquehanna  in  New  York,  while  others 
were  s.  of  Oneida  Lake  in  New  York,  and  one  in  Genessee  Valley.  The 
exact  situation  of  the  majority  of  these  towns  is  not  definitely  known. 
In  some  instances  the  Tuscarora  shared  a  town  vidth  other  tribes,  as 
was  the  case  at  Anajot  (Oneida,  or  Ganowarohare)  and  Onohoquaga. 

Treaties. — The  Tuscarora  have  taken  part  in  the  foUo^dng  treaties 
between  the  United  States  and  the  Six  Nations:  Ft.  Stanwix,  N.  Y., 
Oct.  22,  1784;  Ft.  Harmar,  Ohio,  Jan.  9,  1789;  Canandaigua  (Kon- 
ondaigua),  N.  Y.,  Nov.  11,  1794;  Oneida,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  2,  1794;  Buffalo 
Creek,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  15,  1838. 

For  further  information  consult  Elias  Johnson  (native  Tuscarora), 
Legends,  Traditions  and  Laws  of  the  Iroquois,  or  Six  Nations,  and 
History  of  the  Tuscorora  Indians,  1881;  Documents  Relating  to  the 
Colonial  History  of  Nev\^  York,  I-XI,  1855-61;  Documentary  History 
of  New  York,  I-IV,  1849-51;  Pennsylvania  Archives,  I-XII,  1852-56 
Minutes  of  the  Provincial  Council  of  Pennsylvania  (Colonial  Records), 
I-XVI,  1852-53;  South  Carolina  Historical  and  Genealogical  Maga- 
zine, I-X,  especially  IX  and  X;  Virginia  Magazine,  I-XV,  1893-1908; 
Lawson,  History  of  CaroHna,  1714,  repr.  1860;  Publications  of  the 
Buffalo  Hist.  Soc,  especially  Vol.  VI.  (j.  x.  b.  h.) 


h 


EXHIBIT  I. 

HISTORY   OF   THE    OLD   CHERAWS. 

[From  Gregg's  History  of  the  old  Cheraws.] 

Chapter  I. 

Fndian  tribes  in  Carolina — Extent  of  their  territory — Other  tribes — Pedees — 
Kadapaws — Localities  of  each — Their  origin — Advent  of  the  Catawbaa — Their 
tradition — Subsequent  relation  to  tribes  on  the  Pedee — Lederer's  narrative — 
Localities  identified — Sara,  where — First  mention  in  public  records  of  tribes 
on  the  Pedee — Visit  of  the  Cheraws  to  Charlestown — Governor's  visit  to  the 
Congerees — Interview  with  Pedees — Governor  Glenn  writes  to  Governor  Clinton — 
Evans's  Journal — Cheraws  visit  Charlestown — Smallpox  prevails — Removal 
of  Cheraws  and  union  with  Catawbas — Catawba  History — Languages  of  tribes 
on  the  Pedee — Meaning  of  "  Cheraw  "— "  Pedee  " — Indian  remains  on  the  Pedee — 
Indian  habits  and  customs — Lawson's  narrative — Last  of  Cheraws  and  Catawbas. 

There  is  a  sad  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  New  World:  it  is 
that  relating  to  the  aborigines  of  America — a  people,  as  all  accounts 
agree,  distinguished  for  many  noble  traits,  but  invariably  degenerat- 
ing in  character  and  habit  as  they  have  come  in  contact  with  the 
"pale-faces,"  and  taken  up  their  mournful  line  of  march  toward 
the  setting  sun. 

When  first  known  to  the  colonists,  South  Carolina  is  said  to  have 
contained  not  less  than  28  tribes  of  Indians,  with  settlements 
extending  from  the  ocean  to  the  mountains.  Of  these  tribes  but 
a  few  names  survive  to  mark  the  localities  they  once  inhabited; 
and  these,  with  such  scattered  remains  as  the  waste  of  time  and  the 
leveling  work  of  the  white  man  have  spared,  are  the  only  memorials 
left  to  teU  of  their  early  occupancy  of  the  soil.  Of  the  tribes  which 
dwelt  upon  the  Pedee  and  its  tributaries,  the  Saras,  or  Saraws,  as 
they  were  first  called — afterwards  Charrows,  Charraws,  and  Cheraws — 
occupied  the  region  still  identified  by  the  name;  their  territory 
extending  thence  to  the  coast,  and  along  the  coast  from  the  Cape 
Fear  to  the  Pedee.  This  extensive  region  has  been  assigned  to  the 
Cheraws  by  one  of  the  most  eminent  ethnologists  of  America,  as 
among  the  sites  of  the  Indian  tribes  when  first  known  to  the  Euro- 
peans, about  the  year  1600,  along  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic.^ 

If  such  was  the  extent  of  their  territory  at  that  early  period,  it 
would  indicate  a  population  which  must  have  been  greatly  diminished, 
when,  upon  the  approach  of  the  Catawbas,  a  haK  century  later,  the 
supremacy  of  the  Cheraws  over  the  smaller  tribes  around  them,  and 
even  over  their  own  distinct  nationality,  would  seem  to  have  been 
lost,  or  at  least  unacknowledged.  Within  these  early  territorial 
limits  of  the  Cheraws,  and  along  the  middle  and  lower  parts  of  the 
valley  of  the  river,  must  be  assigned  the  Pedees;  and  about  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  the  Winyaws.  The  Kadapaws  were  found  on 
Lynches  Creek,  after  the  name  of  which  tribe  that  stream  was  called 

'  See  map  annexed,  by  the  late  Albert  Gallatin,  Vol.  I,  of  Transactions  of  American  Ethnological  Society, 
196 


IN"DIA]^S   OF    NOETH   CAEOLIISJ-A. 


197 


Map  of  the  sites  of  the  Cheraws  and  Catawbas.    rrom  Gregg's  History  of  the  Old  Cheraws. 


198 


INDIANS   OP    NORTH   CAROLINA. 


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AND  PARTS  ADJACEM 

Taken  fi'om  Map  in  Cairoirs 
Historical  ColLcctians  o!"  Soufli  CaroQiaa. 


A  MAP  OF 


Map  of  Cheraws  precinct.    From  Gregg's  History  of  the  old  Cheraws. 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  199 

in  the  Indian  tongue.  Of  these,  the  Cheraws — however  they  may 
have  been  diminished  in  number  by  disease  and  war,  or  perchance 
by  some  dismemberment  of  their  nation,  and  the  removal  of  many, 
01  which  no  record  or  tradition  remains — continued  to  be  the  domi- 
nant race  on  the  Pedee;  the  others  having  ever  been  reckoned  among 
the  smaller  and  inferior  tribes.  Of  their  origin  nothing  is  known 
beyond  the  conjectures  of  ethnologists.  They  have  been  assigned, 
but  upon  what  grounds  does  not  appear,  to  the  extensive  family  of 
Algonkins.  These  occupied  that  portion  of  North  America  on  the 
east  extending  from  35°  to  60°  north  latitude,  and  reaching  along 
the  northern  line  of  extension  almost  to  the  Pacific  on  the  west. 
Beyond  this,  as  the  track  of  aboriginal  descent  and  migration  begins 
to  be  traced  back,  even  conjecture  is  lost  in  a  sea  of  uncertainty. 

The  tribes  on  the  Pedee  continued  in  their  feeble  and  discon- 
nected state  (the  Cheraws  maintaining  the  supremacy)  until  the 
arrival  of  the  Catawbas  from  the  north,  with  the  history  of  whom 
their  own  was  ever  after  to  be  inseparably  blended. 

According  to  their  tradition,^  as  it  has  been  handed  douTi  to 
very  recent  times,  the  Catawbas,  at  a  period  prior  or  not  long  sub- 
sequent to  the  discovery  and  settlement  of  North  America  by  the 
whites,  occupied  a  region  far  to  the  northward,  from  whence,  in 
course  of  time,  they  removed  to  the  south.  Being  a  numerous  and 
warhke  race,  they  vanquished  the  tribes  with  whom  they  came  suc- 
cessively in  confhct  on  the  way,  until  they  met  the  Cherokees  on  the 
banks  of  the  river,  afterwards  called  by  their  own  name,  Catawba. 

Here,  as  the  tradition  relates,  a  sanguinary  battle  ensued  between 
them,  which  lasted  from  morning  until  night,  darkness  alone  serving 
to  put  an  end  to  the  conflict.  The  loss  on  both  sides  was  hea%^, 
though  neither  party  gained  the  victory.  They  slept  on  the  field 
of  blood  among  their  dead  and  wounded.  With  the  approach  of 
morning,  propositions  of  peace  were  made  by  the  Catawbas  and 
accepted  by  the  Cherokees.  According  to  the  terms  of  the  agree- 
ment, the  former  were  to  occupy  the  country  east  of  the  river,  and 
the  latter  the  territory  on  the  west.  Here  they  solemnly  agreed  to 
live  together  as  brothers ;  and,  after  burying  their  dead,  and  erectmg 
pUes  of  stones  as  monuments  alike  to  their  common  loss  and  of  the 
peace  and  friendship  estabhshed  between  them,  returned  to  their 
encampments,  ever  afterwards  sacredly  observing  the  terms  of  the 
compact.  This  tradition  of  the  Catawbas  is  confirmed  throughout 
by  the  fuUer  details  which  ethnological  research  has  added  to  their 
history.  They  appear  to  have  been  a  Canadian  tribe,  and  to  have 
left  their  ancient  home  about  the  year  1650,  pursued  by  the  Conne- 
wangas,  a  superior  and  more  warhke  tribe,  with  whom  they  had 
come  in  conflict.  Forced  thus  to  remove,  they  turned  their  faces 
to  the  southward,  and  fought  their  way,  when  necessary  to  do  so, 
until  they  approached  the  headwaters  of  the  Kentucky  River. 
Here  a  separation  took  place,  the  larger  number  becoming  absorbed 
in  the  great  families  of  the  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws. 

The  remainder  of  the  tribe  stopped  in  what  was  afterwards  known 
as  Bottetourt  County,  Va.,  but  without  making  any  permanent 
settlement. 

1  For  this  interesting  traditional  account,  as  given  hy  the  Catawbas,  the  author  is  indebted  to  W.  H. 
Thomas,  Esq.,  of  Qualla  Town,  N.  C,  who  has  been  intimately  connected  with  them,  as  their  head  man, 
or  chief,  since  their  removal  to  the  western  part  of  that  State. 


200  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

They  removed  thence  in  the  year  1660,  continuing  their  journey  to 
the  south,  and,  as  Adair  wrote, 

settled  on  the  east  side  of  a  broad,  purling  river,  that  heads  in  the  great  blue  ridge  of 
mountains,  and  empties  itself  into  San  tee  River,  in  Amelia  township,  then  running 
eastward  of  Charlestown,  disgorges  itself  into  the  Atlantic. 

On  the  banks  of  this  river,  the  Eswa  Tavora  (as  it  was  called  in  the 
Indian  tongue),  they  met  the  Cherokees,  whose  extensive  territory 
ran  thence  to  the  westward,  and  there  followed  the  sanguinary  con- 
flict, of  which  some  account  has  been  given. 

In  this  battle  1,000  of  the  bravest  warriors  were  lost  on  each  side, 
greatly  reducing  the  force  of  the  Catawbas,  and  doubtless  making  a 
permanent  impression  on  their  spirit  as  a  warlike  race,  for  which  they 
had  been  so  celebrated  in  the  earlier  periods  of  their  history. 

How  the  approach  of  the  Catawbas  was  regarded  by  the  Cheraws, 
and  whether  any  conflict  ensued  between  them,  tradition  does  not 
inform  us.  The  approach  of  a  strong  and  formidable  tribe  was 
generally  regarded  by  the  Indians  as  a  hostile  demonstration  and 
claim  to  dominion.  Already,  doubtless,  the  decline  of  the  Cheraws 
had  commenced  and  made  such  progress  as  to  unfit  them  for  con- 
testing the  claim  to  supremacy.  It  was  to  be  the  story  of  a  con- 
tinuous decline,  and  of  a  race  scattered  or  absorbed  into  another 
superior  to  themselves,  the  beginning  of  the  last  and  most  mournful 
chapter  in  their  history.  A  portion  of  the  Cheraws,  however,  must 
have  remained  distinct  and  mdependent  for  more  than  a  century 
later,  as  will  be  found  in  tracing  their  subsequent  course.  They 
were  henceforth  to  be  wanderers,  the  remains  of  their  once  extensive 
dominion,  with  those  of  the  smaller  tribes  around  them,  having 
passed  away  to  the  Catawbas.  The  territory  of  the  latter  was  placed 
in  34°  north  latitude,  being  bounded  on  the  north  and  northeast  by 
North  Carolina;  on  the  east  and  south  by  South  Carolina;  and 
about  west  and  southwest  by  the  Cherokee  nation.^ 

The  smaller  tribes  on  the  waters  of  the  Pedee,  appear  after  this 
period  to  have  had  but  a  nominal  existence.  They  had  doubtless 
degenerated  through  the  operation  of  those  wasting  and  destructive 
agencies  at  work  in  the  history  of  the  aboriginal  races;  and,  in  ad- 
dition, had  undergone  the  process,  common  among  the  Indians,  of 
becoming  absorbed  in  their  conquerors  or  in  the  larger  tribes  around 
them. 

In  this  instance  they  were  merged  chiefly  in  the  Catawbas.  About 
the  year  1743,  the  language  of  the  Catawbas  is  said  to  have  con- 
sisted of  20  different  dialects,  of  which  the  "Katahba"  was  the 
standard,  or  court  dialect,  the  "Cherah"  being  another.  Scarcely 
anything  beyond  a  bare  allusion  to  them  by  name  is  found  relating 
to  the  tribes  on  the  Pedee  in  the  earliest  accounts  of  the  Indians  of 
Carolina.  With  the  exception  of  the  Cheraws,  they  were  reckoned 
among  the  smaller  and  inferior  tribes,  most  of  whom  had  then  greatly 
degenerated  and  were  rapidly  approaching  extinction.  Brief  allu- 
sions are  found  at  an  early  period  to  the  several  tribes  in  the  acts  of 
the  assembly,  passed  for  the  regulation  and  support  of  the  Indian 
trade.  The  larger  tribes  on  the  northern  and  western  boundaries  of 
the  Province  engaged  the  attention  of  the  Government  almost  ex- 

1  Adair,  p.  224. 


INDIANS  or  NORTH  CAROLINA.  201 

clusively.  The  Catawbas  formed  a  sort  of  barrier  against  their  in- 
cursions, and  of  them  there  is  frequent  mention. 

Of  the  Cheraws  the  first  distinct  relation  in  any  contemporaneous 
record,  is  found  in  the  explorations  of  John  Lederer,  'in  three 
several  marches  from  Virginia  to  the  west  of  Carolina  and  other 

Earts  of  the  Continent;  begun  in  March,  1669,  and  ended  in  Septem- 
er,  1670."^ 

Such  at  least  is  the  case  if  we  are  to  understand  by  ''Sara,"  as 
he  writes  it,  the  locality  of  the  "Saraws,"  as  they  were  sometimes 
called,  or  Cheraw  Indians.  Thus,  in  one  of  his  journeys,  Lederer 
says: 

I  departed  from  Watery  the  one-and-twentieth  of  June,  and  keeping  a  west  course 
for  near  thirty  miles,  I  came  to  Sara.  Here  I  found  th.e  ways  more  level  and  easy.  I 
did  likewise,  to  my  no  small  admiration,  find  hard  cakes  of  white  salt  among  them; 
but  whether  they  were  made  of  sea-water  or  taken  out  of  saltpits  I  know  not,  but  am 
apt  to  believe  tke  latter,  because  the  sea  is  so  remote  from  them.  From  Sara  I  kept  a 
southwest  course  until  the  five-and-twentieth  of  June,  and  then  I  reached  Wisacky. 
This  three  days'  march  was  more  troublesome  to  me  than  all  my  travels  besides,  for 
the  direct  way  which  I  took  from  Sara  to  Wisacky  is  over  a  continued  marsh  over- 
grown with  weeds,  from  whose  roots  spring  knotty  stumps,  as  hard  and  sharp  as  flint. 

I  was  forced  to  lead  my  horse  most  part  of  the  way,  and  wonder  that  he  was  not 
either  plunged  in  the  bogs  or  lamed  by  those  rugged  knots.  This  nation  is  subject  to 
a  neighbor  king  residing  upon  the  bank  of  a  great  lake  called  Ushery,  en^-ironed  of 
all  sides  with  mountains  and  Wisacky  marsh.^ 

There  is  great  difficulty  throughout  Lederer's  narrative,  as  Dr. 
Hawks  more  than  once  remarks,  in  determining  the  routes  by  which 
he  passed  and  the  localities  described.  If  by  "Watery,"  the  Wateree 
of  the  present  day  is  to  be  understood,  he  could  not  by  going  west 
30  miles  to  "Wisacky,"  and  thence  three  days'  march  by  a 
southwest  course  to  "Ushery,"  ha^e  reached  the  Santee;  for  by 
"Ushery"  the  Santee  was  meant,  if  the  authority  quoted  by  Dr. 
Hawks  is  correct:  Col.  Byrd,  he  adds,  says  that  the  Indians  living 
on  the  Santee  River  were  called  "Usheries."  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
amid  the  confusion  of  names  which  could  not  have  been  very  well 
defined  at  that  early  period,  we  may  understand  by  "Watery"  the 
Pedee  of  the  present  day,  a  journey  of  30  miles  to  the  west  would 
have  brought  Lederer  to  Lynche's  Creek,  the  "Wisacky,"  and  three 
days'  march  from  thence  southwestwardly  along  the  swamp  of 
Wateree,  would  have  enabled  him  to  reach  the  Santee,  environed  by 
the  "High  HiUs"  which  have  since  become  so  famous,  called  by  this 
early  explorer,  "Mountains,"  and  with  an  almost  impenetrable 
swamp  of  vast  extent,  to  which  his  description  of  a  "marsh  over- 
grown with  reeds,"  would  very  well  answer. 

In  support  of  this  view,  we  find  in  Oldmixon's  History  of  Caro- 
lina, published  in  1708,  reason  for  supposing  that  the  Pedee  was  then 
callecl  by  that  name  (Watery).  Describing  the  six  counties  into 
which  Carolina,  North  and  South,  was  then  divided,  he  begins  with 
Albemarle,  on  the  borders  of  Virginia.  Then  follows  an  account  of 
Clarendon  County,  in  which,  he  says: 

is  the  famous  promontory,  called  also  Cape  Fear,  at  the  mouth  of  Clarendon  River, 
called  also  Cape  Fear  River.  The  next  river  is  named  Waterey  River,  or  Winyan, 
about  twenty-five  leagues  distant  from  Ashley  River:  it  is  capable  of  receiving  large 

I  For  a  full  account  of  this  early  American  traveler,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Dr.  Hawks'  History  of  North 
Carolina,  Vol.  n,  pp.  43-63,  with  maps  annexed. 
«  Hawks's  History  of  North  Carolina,  Vol.  II,  p.  49. 


202  INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

ships,  but  inferior  to  Port  Royal,  nor  is  yet  inhabited.  There  is  another  small  river 
called  Wingon  River,  and  a  little  settlement  honoured  with  the  name  of  Charles-town, 
but  so  thinly  inhabited  that  'tis  not  worth  taking  notice  of.  We  come  now  to  South 
Carolina,  which,  is  parted  from  North  by  Zantee  River.  The  adjacent  county  ia 
called  Craven  County.^ 

It  is  evident  that  the  "Waterey"  here  spoken  of,  was  the  Wacca- 
maw,  or  the  lower  Pedee,  and  not  the  Wateree  of  the  present  day. 

The  Pedee  being  a  much  longer  stream  than  the  Waccamaw,  it 
is  not  impossible  that  though  the  latter  was  known  by  the  name  of 
Waterey,  or  Winy  an  near  its  mouth,  the  former  being  supposed  to 
form  its  extension  higher  up,  was  also  in  like  manner  designated.  Dr. 
Hawks  remarks: 

Watery,  Sara,  Wisacky,  and  Ushery,  would  all  appear  to  have  been  in  South  Caro- 
lina, the  last  directly  west  of  Charles- town.  If  he  made  his  journey  then,  entering  the 
State  somewhere  in  Robeson  County,  he  must  have  crossed  in  a  south-western  line, 
and  passing  through  Robeson  County  into  South  Carolina,  must  have  traversed  that 
State  also  in  its  entire  width.  The  time  occupied  would  not  have  been  sufficient  for 
it.  Lederer's  Itinerary  presents  difficulties  which  we  confess  we  cannot  satisfactorily 
solve.^ 

If,  as  is  here  conjectured,  Lederer  passed  through  Robeson  County 
into  South  Carolina,  the  supposition  we  have  made  will  appear 
the  more  probable.  And  it  brings  to  light  the  fact  never  before 
suggested  or  imagined,  perhaps,  that  the  Pedee  in  the  earlier  days  of 
aboriginal  history  was  known  as  "Sara."  If  it  was  so,  the  time  and 
reason  of  the  change  to  Pedee  can  be  left  to  conjecture  only. 

It  might  have  taken  place  after  the  advent  of  the  Catawbas  and 
been  brought  about  by  them  in  order  that  such  a  standing  memorial 
of  the  "Sara"  dominion  might  be  forever  obliterated;  or,  what  is  yet 
more  probable,  the  "Sara"  territory,  once  embracing  the  region 
higher  up  but  afterwards  confined  to  the  coast,  the  Pedees,  if  suc- 
ceeding to  it,  would  naturally  have  called  the  river  after  their  own 
name. 

The  earliest  mention  in  the  provincial  records  of  any  of  the  tribes 
inhabiting  the  Valley  of  the  Pedee,  is  found  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
Council  or  Upper  House  of  Assembly,  December  15th,  1732.^  It  is  in 
these  words : 

Mr.  Sanders  and  Mr.  Waties  came  from  the  Lower  House  with  the  following  mes- 
sage. We  herewith  send  your  excellency  a  letter  of  great  moment  to  this  Govern- 
ment, relating  to  the  murder  of  a  Pedee  Indian  by  one  Kemp.  We  desire  your  excel- 
lency to  take  the  proper  measures  to  prevent  the  ill  consequences  of  it  by  causing  the 
offender  to  be  apprehended  and  brought  to  justice,  or  otherwise  as  your  excellency 
shall  see  fit. 

Upon  reading  the  message  from  the  Lower  House  of  Assembly,  and 
likewise  the  letter  therein  mentioned,  complaining  that  one  Kemp, 
or  Camp,  an  overseer  at  Black  River,  or  Georgetown,  has  barbarously 
murdered  one  of  the  Pedee  Indians. 

Ordered,  That  James  Neale,  Esq.,  provost  marshal,  do  immediately  attach  the  said 
Kemp,  or  Camp,  and  bring  him  before  his  excellency  the  governor,  in  Charlestown, 
to  be  dealt  with  according  to  law,  and  that  all  constables  and  other  officers  and  sub- 
jects of  His  Majesty  be  aiding  and  assisting  to  the  said  provost  marshal  in  the  execu- 
tion of  this  order. 

1  Oldmixon's  History,  in  Carroll's  Collections,  Vol.  II,  p.  446. 

SHawks's  History  of  North  Carolina,  Vol.  II,  p.  52. 

'Council  Journal,  No.  5,  p.  258,  secretary  of  state's  office,  Columbia. 


INDIANS   OP   NORTH   CABOLINA.  203 

This  proceeding  of  the  House  was  based  upon  the  following  facts : 

Appeared  before  this  board,  Thomas  Burton  and  Wm.  Kemp,  and  upon  the  affidavit 
of  Thomas  Burton,  and  the  information  of  Wm.  Kemp  concerning  the  fact  of  an  Indian 
fellow  being  killed,  name  Corn- White  Johnny,  his  excellency  issued  the  following 
order:  "On  the  17th  January,  1733,  in  council,  upon  hearing  this  day  the  information 
of  William  Kemp,  relating  to  the  death  of  Com- White  Johnny,  and  the  affidavit  of 
Thomas  Burton,  it  is  ordered  that  King  Harry,  Captain  Billy,  George  and  Dancing 
Johnny,  and  some  of  the  relations  of  the  deceased,  be  and  appear  before  me  the  second 
Wednesday  in  February  next  ensuing,  to  give  an  account  of  what  they  know  of  the 
death  of  the  said  Indian,  and  that  Wm.  Kemp  do  attend  at  the  same  time;  likewise 
that  Mr.  John  Thompson,  jun.,  is  desired  to  acquaint  the  said  Indians  of  this  order. 

This  record  is  of  interest  now  as  evincing  the  jealuos  care  exercised 
by  the  Provincial  Government  for  the  protection  of  those  scattered 
and  defenseless  remnants  of  the  Indian  tribes  whose  domain  was  fast 
passing  away  from  them  and  who  continued  faithful  to  the  whites  to 
the  close  of  their  history. 

Of  the  result  of  the  proceedings  referred  to  no  further  account 
appears. 

We  have  next  a  brief  but  interesting  notice  ^  of  a  visit  made  to 
Charlestown  by  a  few  of  the  leading  men  of  the  Cheraws  and  Catawbas 
m  July,  1739. 

On  Saturday  last, 
said  the  Gazette  of  that  day, 

arrived  in  this  town  eleven  of  the  chief  men  among  the  Catawbas  and  Cheraw  Indians, 
who  came  to  pay  a  visit  to  his  honour  the  lieutenant  governor  and  inform  him  that  some 
time  since  a  party  of  their  people  went  out  to  war,  and  not  meeting  with  their  enemies 
had  cut  off  a  white  family  on  the  borders  of  Vhginia;  that  upon  complaint  made  to 
them  of  the  said  barbarous  murder  they  examined  into  the  facts  and  had  put  five  of 
the  ringleaders  to  death;  and  that  they  were  determined  to  prosecute  in  the  same 
rigorous  manner  any  of  their  people  who  for  the  futiire  should  be  found  guilty  of  the 
like  cruel  practices.  They  met  with  a  kind  reception  from  his  honour  the  lieutenant 
governor,  and  having  received  the  usual  presents  from  the  country  they  set  out  this 
day  on  their  return  home,  well  pleased  and  content. 

The  signal  punishment  visited  by  these  tribes  upon  the  murderers 
of  the  whites  indicated  their  fidelity  to  the  Provmcial  Government, 
which  continued  to  be  as  true  as  it  was  lasting. 

Of  the  Pedees  mention  is  made  a  few  years  later. 

In  council  March  2,  1743,  his  excellency  the  governor  signed  the  following  order 
to  Mr.  Commissary  Dart,  viz,  to  provide  for  the  Pedee  Indians  now  in  town  the  fol- 
lowing particulars,  viz : 

Presents. — To  the  three  head  men,  each  of  them,  a  gun  and  knife;  to  the  others, 
each  of  them,  a  knife.  For  the  three  women,  each  of  them,  a  looking-glass,  twenty 
bullets,  half  a  pound  vermilion  to  be  divided  among  them. 

Also,  an  order  on  Col.  Brewton  for  ten  pounds  of  gunpowder  for  use  of  said  Indians.- 

The  Pedees  are  mentioned  again  with  the  Catawbas  in  the  following 
year.  "In  council,  25th  Julj^,  1744,  the  governor  admitted  four 
Pedee  Indians  to  an  interview  in  the  council  chamber,  who  informed 
his  excellency  that  seven  Catawbas  had  been  barbarously  murdered 
by  the  Notchee  Indians,  who  live  among  them,"  which  horrible  deed 
having  been  confirmed  by  Mr.  Matthew  Beard,  who  lives  at  Goose 
Creek,  who  had  certain  intelligence  of  the  same,  saying  that  the  said 
Catawbas  being  drunk  near  FuUer  Cowpen,  near  the  four  holes,  seven 

1  South  Carolina  Gazette,  June  30— July  7, 1739.  For  access  to  this  invaluable  historical  collection— a 
complete  file  of  the  old  Gazettes,  commencing  about  1730— the  author  is  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  A.  H. 
Mazycii,  Esq.,  of  the  Charleston  Library.  Only  a  few  of  the  earlier  numbers  of  the  Gazette  are  missing. 
At  a  later  period  a  small  portion  was  burned. 

•Council  Journal,  No.  11,  p.  133. 


204  INDIAN'S   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

of  them  while  asleep  were  murdered  by  the  No  tehees;  which  affair 
beinoj  taken  into  consideration,  his  excellency,  by  the  advice  of 
His  Majesty's  council,  ordered  the  following  letter  to  be  dispatched 
away  relating  to  that  subject: 

So.  Ca.,  July  28,  1744. 

Sm:  I  have  received  information  of  an  unlucky  accident  which  happened  about  a 
week  ago,  at  or  near  the  store  belonging  to  the  late  Major  Fuller,  somewhere  about  the 
Four  Holes,  where  some  Notchee  Indians  have  fallen  upon  and  killed  five  or  six  of 
the  Catawbas,  being  instigated  thereto  by  a  person  who  keeps  that  store.  The  Cataw- 
bas,  as  I  understand,  have  already  set  out  to  take  their  revenge,  which  has  obliged 
the  Notchees  and  Pedees  to  come  further  down  among  the  settlements  for  shelter. 
I  must  therefore  desire  the  favor  of  you  to  interpose  in  this  matter,  and  to  prevent,  as 
far  as  you  are  able,  any  bloodshed,  till  this  matter  is  fully  enquired  into.  Then  the 
guilty  may  be  punished,  and  if  you  find  it  necessary,  to  interpose  with  the  nailitia  in 
your  parts  to  keep  the  peace.  This  I  write  at  the  desire  of  His  Majesty's  council. 
I  hear  they  are  at  Mr.  Beard's  plantation,  in  the  neighborhood. 
I  am,  with  truth,  yours, 

James  Glen.' 

To  Hon.  Wm.  Mlddleton,  Esq. 

About  two  years  after  this,  the  governor,  as  was  usual  when  any 
difficulty  occurred  with  the  Indians,  or  to  preserve  their  friendship 
and  maintam  a  due  influence  over  them,  made  a  visit  into  the  inte- 
rior, at  a  certain  place  on  the  Congarees,  appointed  by  him  for  an 
interview  with  the  Catawbas,  of  which  the  following  account  was  pre- 
served :  ^ 

The  governor  arrived  at  Congarees  27  April,  140  miles  distance  hence,  where,  on  the 
bank  of  the  Santee,  the  king  and  a  few  of  the  head  men  met  him.  Yenabe  Yalang- 
way,  the  king — the  old  leader,  Captain  Taylor,  Nafkebee,  and  some  others  awaited 
on  his  excellency.  The  next  day  the  governor  addressed  them.  A  place  being 
erected  for  the  governor  to  sit  under,  and  the  union  flag  hoisted,  our  men  were  drawn 
out  in  two  lines,  through  which  the  Indians  marched,  when  they  were  received  with 
drums  beating  and  colours  flying,  and  saluted  with  some  small  pieces  of  cannon; 
after  they  had  all  taken  the  governor  by  the  hand,  and  the  king  with  some  of  his 
headmen,  had  placed  himself  near  his  excellency,  a  person  was  sworn  truly  to  inter- 
pret all  that  should  pass  betwixt  the  governor  and  the  Indians;  and  then  Ms  excel- 
lency addressed  them  in  words,  the  purport  of  which  was  to  dissuade  them  from 
agreeing  to  a  proposition  which  had  been  made  to  them  by  some  of  the  other  Indian 
nations  to  join  in  a  French  war  against  the  people  of  Carolina.  After  which,  presents 
were  distributed,  consisting  chiefly  of  powder,  guns,  pistols,  paint,  &c.  The  gov- 
ernor had  that  morning  received  an  express  from  Mr.  Brown  (who  trades  amongst  the 
Catawbas)  acquainting  him  that  some  of  the  Pedees  and  Cheraws  (two  small  tribes 
who  have  long  been  incorporated  with  the  Catawbas),  intended  to  leave  them,  which 
might  prove  of  dangerous  consequence  at  a  time  when  they  were  so  closely  attacked 
by  their  enemies,  the  Northern  Indians.  Mr.  Brown  therefore  entreated  that,  if  pos- 
sible, such  a  separation  might  be  prevented. 

The  governor  ordered  the  rammers  of  all  the  pistols  which  he  had  delivered  to  the 
Indians  to  be  laid  upon  the  table,  desiring  that  such  as  were  Pedees  and  Cliarraws 
might  advance,  and  they,  being  in  a  body  near  him,  he  spoke  to  them  in  these  words: 
"It  gives  me  great  concern,  my  friends,  to  hear  that  you  entertain  the  least  thought 
of  leaving  the  Catawbas,  with  whom  you  have  been  so  long  and  so  closely  united. 
This  union  makes  you  strong,  and  enables  you  to  defend  yourselves  and  annoy  your 
enemies;  but  should  you  ever  separate,  you  would  thereby  weaken  yourselves,  and 
be  exposed  to  every  danger.  Consider  that  if  you  were  single  and  divided,  you 
may  be  broke  as  easily  as  I  break  this  stick"  (at  the  same  time  breaking  one  of  the 
rammers);  "but  if  you  continue  united  together,  and  stand  by  one  another,  it  will 
be  as  impossible  to  hurt  or  break  you,  as  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  break  these,"  (his 
excellency  then  taking  up  a  handful  of  rammers) . 

After  this,  they  all  promised  to  continue  together  in  their  camp.  The  governor 
then  directed  himself  to  the  king  of  the  Catawbas,  telling  him  that  he  would  expect 
his  answer.  To  which  the  king  replied  at  some  length,  assuring  the  governor  of  their 
friendship  and  fidelity. 

1  Council  Journal,  No.  ]  1,  pp.  413,  414.  2  Gazette,  June  2,  1746. 


INDIANS   OF    NOETH   CAROLINA.  205 

The  pledge  of  fidelity  renewed  on  this  occasion  was  faithfully  observed  by  these 
Indians  throughout  all  their  subsequent  history.  Though  often  tempted  by  artful 
representations  and  large  promises  to  take  up  arms  against  the  people  of  Carolina, 
they  could  never  be  persuaded  to  do  so.  Throughout  the  Indian  wars,  and  the  con- 
test with  the  mother  country,  they  continued  steadfast  in  their  devotion  to  their 
early  friends  and  allies,  well  meriting  the  aid  and  protection  extended  to  them  by 
the  State  in  the  latter  stages  of  their  decline  and  weakness. 

That  the  Pedees  owned  slaves  will  appear  from  the  following  notice,  published  in 
the  Gazette  of  the  day,  August  30-September  6,  1748: 

Taken  up  by  Michael  Welch,  overseer  to  the  subscriber,  on  an  island  called  Uchee 
Island,  a  Negro  fellow,  who  gives  the  following  account  of  himself,  \dz,  that  he  be- 
longed formerly  to  Mr.  Fuller,  and  was  by  Mm  sold  to  Billy,  king  of  the  Pedee 
Indians;  that  the  Catawba  Indians  took  him  from  King  Billy,  and  carried  him  to 
their  nation;  and  that  in  endeavoring  to  make  his  escape  from  the  Catawbas,  he  was 
lost  in  the  woods,  and  had  been  so  a  considerable  time  before  he  was  taken.  He  is  a 
middle-sized  fellow,  and  a  little  pot-bellied;  says  his  name  is  Fortune,  but  is  sus- 
pected to  have  another  name  which  he  does  not  care  to  own.  Any  person  having  any 
right  or  property  in  the  said  fellow  may  apply  to  the  subscriber,  now  in  Charlestown. 

Isaac  Marksdale. 

The  Pedees  and  other  smaller  tribes,  who  now  led  a  wandering  life, 
were  in  constant  danger  of  being  enticed  off  by  the  more  powerful 
and  hostile  nations  of  Indians,  to  join  them  in  their  predatory 
excursions. 

The  following  letters  indicate  the  anxiety  felt  on  the  subj  ect  by  the 
Catawbas,  as  well  as  by  the  Provincial  Government  at  this  period. 
The  first  ^  was  addressed  by  the  king  of  the  Catawbas  to  his  excel- 
lency, James  Glen,  Esq.: 

There  are  a  great  many  Pedee  Indians  living  in  the  settlements  that  we  want  to 
come  and  settle  amongst  us.  We  desire  for  you  to  send  for  them,  and  ad"\dse  them  to 
this,  and  give  them  this  string  of  wampum  in  token  that  we  want  them  to  settle  here, 
and  will  always  live  like  brothers  with  them.  The  Northern  Indians  want  them  all 
to  settle  with  us;  for,  as  they  are  now  at  peace,  they  may  be  hunting  in  the  woods  or 
etraggHng  about,  killed  by  some  of  them,  except  they  join  us,  and  make  but  one  nation, 
which  will  be  a  great  addition  of  strength  to  us. 

The  (his  x  mark)  King. 

Catawbas,  21st  November,  1752. 

During  the  previous  year,  viz,  May  24,  1751,  Gov.  Glen  had  written 
to  Gov.  Clinton,  of  New  York,  respecting  the  Congress  of  Indians 
to  be  holden  at  Albany,  for  the  purpose  of  uniting  the  different 
friendly  tribes,  and  preserving  their  friendship  as  a  bulwark  against 
the  more  hostile.     Of  that  letter,  the  follo'^dng  extract  will  sufhce: 

Our  first  care  ought  to  be  to  make  all  Indians  that  are  friends  with  the  English 
friends  also  among  themselves;  and  for  that  reason  I  hope  you  and  the  other  governors 
and  commissioners  will  heartily  join  your  interest  in  remo^ving  all  the  obstacles  to  a 
peace,  in  reconciling  all  the  differences,  and  cementing  together  in  a  closer  union 
the  northern  and  southern  Indians,  under  the  name  of  Norw'^-  Indians.  I  include 
not  only  the  six  nations,  the  Delewares,  the  Susquehanna  Indians,  but  all  the  different 
tribes  who  may  be  in  friendship  with  them,  particularly  those  on  the  Ohio  River; 
as  under  the  name  of  Southward  Indians,  I  comprehend  the  Cherokees,  the  Catawbas, 
the  Creeks  (called  sometimes  Muscogee),  the  Chickasaws,  and  such  part  of  the  Choctaws 
as  are  in  our  interest,  and  all  tribes  in  friendship  with  these  nations,  or  that  live 
amongst  om-  settlements,  such  as  Charraws,  Uchees,  Pedees,  Notches,  Cape  Fears, 
or  other  Indians;  and  I  hope  that  all  prisoners  on  each  side  will  be  mutually  delivered 
back. 2 

On  the  14th  of  October,  1755,  John  Evans  made  a  visit  to  the 
Catawbas,  by  order  of  his  excellency.  Gov.  Glen.     From  his  journal 

'  Indian  Book,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  163,  164,  in  secretary  of  state's  oflQce,  Columbia,  S.  C. 
>  Indian  Book,  Vol.  H,  p.  96. 


206  IKDIAFS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

the  following  extracts  are  taken,  and  will  be  found  chiefly  interesting 
here,  as  containing  some  information  respecting  the  Pedees: 

October  17th. — Met  a  Catawba  man  and  woman,  and  informed  by  them,  that  in  the 
summer,  the  Cherrackees  and  Notchees  had  killed  some  Pedees  and  Waccamaws  in 
the  white  people's  settlements. 

18th. — I  got  into  the  Catawbas.  King  Hazier  was  gone  a  hunting  the  day  before; 
the  next  morning  they  sent  for  him,  and  he  came  in  that  night. 

Before  he  got  into  the  nation,  I  made  it  my  care  to  inquire  of  the  Pedees  if  they 
could  not  tell  what  people  killed  the  Pedees  at  Goose  Creek,  where  the  boys  were 
that  was  taken  prisoners:  answered,  "They  could  not  tell  who  they  were,  but  under- 
stood it  was  the  Notchees  and  Cherokees  that  did  the  mischief." 

21st.- — The  king  and  head  man  met,  and  desired  to  know  what  I  was  come  for. 
I  told  them  that  there  was  two  Pedee  women  killed  and  scalped,  and  two  boys  carried 
away  from  out  of  the  settlements,  and  that  it  was  done  by  some  of  their  nation;  and 
one  Notchee,  which  was  called  the  Notchee  Doctor,  and  his  excellency,  the  governor, 
had  sent  me  to  demand  the  boys;  and  I  then  and  there  demanded  these  boys.  I 
further  acquainted  them  that  his  excellency,  the  governor,  desired  that  they  would 
not  come  into  the  settlements  without  they  were  sent  for.  The  white  people  might 
mistake  them,  and  do  them  a  mischief,  believing  them  to  be  enemy  Indians.  I 
further  said,  that  it  was  his  excellency,  the  governor's  pleasure,  that  the  Catawba 
people  should  not  attempt  to  carry  away  any  of  the  Indians  that  are  now  living  in  the 
settlements  up  to  their  nation  on  any  pretence  whatever  without  his  permission  first. 
Theii"  answer  was,  that  old  men  should  always  speak  truth;  and  the  most  of  them  were 
grey-headed;  and  they,  for  their  parts,  did  not  hurt  the  Pedees,  and  did  not  know  or 
believe  the  mischief  was  done  by  any  belonging  to  that  nation;  and  further  said, 
that  when  the  Northward  Indians  were  in  their  nation,  they  bound  the  same  three 
women  and  two  men;  and  the  Catawbas  released  the  three  women,  but  the  Northward 
Indians  carried  the  men  away. 

22nd. — I  set  out  from  the  Catawba  nation  homeward,  and  at  night  came  to  a  camp  of 
Pedees.  I  acquainted  them  with  my  errand  to  the  nation,  and  desired  them  to  let 
me  know,  if  they  could,  who  it  was  that  killed  and  scalped  the  Pedee  women,  and 
carried  the  boys  away.  Lewis  Jones,  their  chief,  answered,  that  soon  after  the  Pedees 
were  killed,  he  went  down  from  the  nation  to  the  settlements  to  inquire  what  harm 
was  done  by  Goose  Creek.  He  met  a  Pedee  Indian,  named  Prince,  who  lived  in  the 
settlements;  and  Piince  told  him,  that  a  day  or  two  before  the  mischief  was  done, 
there  was  five  Cherokees  and  one  Notchee  seen  to  go  by  Monck's  Corner,  and  Lewis 
John  said,  he  did  believe  they  scalped  the  women,  and  carried  the  boys  away.^ 

The  Cheraws,  following  the  example  of  the  Catawbas,  were  true  to 
the  EngUsh,  as  they  continued  to  be  to  the  colonists  throughout 
the  Revolution  and  afterwards. 

They  cheerfully  endured  the  hardships  of  distant  journeys  when 
called  upon  for  aid.  In  the  South  Carolina  Gazette  of  June  2,  1759, 
this  account  was  given : 

On  Tuesday  last,  45  Charraws,  part  of  a  nation  of  Indians  incorporated  with  the 
Catawbas,  arrived  in  town,  headed  by  King  Johnny,  who  brought  to  the  governor  the 
scalp  of  a  French  Indian,  which  he  had  taken  near  Loyal-Henning.  He  and  several 
others  that  are  with  him  here,  were  with  Gen.  Forbes  during  the  whole  expedition 
against  Fort  Du  Quesne.  There  chief  business  seems  to  be,  to  see  his  excellency 
and  receive  presents. 

In  the  latter  part  of  this  year  the  great  scourge  of  the  red  man 
appeared  amongst  them  and  carried  off  many  Indans  in  this  part  of 
the  Province.  In  the  Gazette  of  December  8-15,  1759,  was  this  sad 
account  of  its  ravages : 

It  is  pretty  certain  that  the  smallpox  has  lately  raged  with  great  violence  among  the 
Catawba  Indians,  and  that  it  has  carried  off  near  one-half  of  that  nation,  by  throwing 
themselves  into  the  river  as  soon  as  they  found  themselves  ill.  This  distemper  has 
since  appeared  among  the  inhabitants  at  the  Charraws  and  Waterees,  where  many 
families  are  down,  so  that  unless  especial  care  is  taken,  it  must  soon  spread  through 

» Indian  Book,  Vol.  V,  pp.  94,  95. 


Il^DIANS   OF    NOETH   CAROLHSTA.  207 

the  whole  countrv^  the  consequences  of  which  are  much  to  be  dreaded.  The  smallpox 
went  almost  through  the  Province  in  the  year  1738,  when  it  made  prodigious  havoc, 
and  has  ever  since  been  kept  out  of  it  by  the  salutary  laws  enacted  for  that  purpose. 

So  destructive  and  rapidly  extermi native  had  been  this  disease 
among  the  Indians  from  its  first  introduction  that  its  appearance 
brought  on  a  spirit  of  frenzy  and  desperation.  Ignorant  and  grossly 
superstitious,  they  regarded  it  as  a  visible  embodiment  of  the  Spirit 
of  Evil — the  sentence  of  wrath  from  heaven  let  loose  upon  them,  from 
which  there  was  no  escape.  In  this  state  of  mind  the  disease  found 
abundant  food  for  keeping  itself  alive  and  completing  the  work  of 
destruction.  The  white  families  at  the  ''Charraws"  and  '' Waterees," 
who  appear  to  have  suffered  severely  at  this  period,  were  doubtless 
unprepared  for  such  a  visitant,  and  having  not  the  means  of  preven- 
tion or  cure  at  command,  yielded  for  a  time,  hke  their  savage  neigh- 
bors, to  the  fell  destroyer.  At  a  later  period,  about  the  time  of  the 
Revolution,  some  of  the  Catawba  warriors  having  visited  Charlestown, 
there  contracted  the  disease  again,  and  returniug,  communicated  it  to 
their  nation,  which,  according  to  contemporaneous  accounts,  came 
well  nigh  being  exterminated.  It  was  after  this,  having  been  sorely 
thinned  by  disease,  that  they  were  advised  by  their  friends  to  invite 
the  Cheraws  to  move  up  and  unite  with  them  as  one  tribe.  The 
Cheraws  here  spoken  of  by  the  writers  of  the  day  must  have  been  a 
part  of  the  tribe  which  had  maintained  its  independence  probably  in 
the  region  lower  down  the  Pedee  or  on  the  coast,  where  they  led  a 
proud  but  feeble  existence.  That  some  of  them  should  have  refused  to 
submit  to  what  must  have  seemed  to  be  the  yoke  of  a  foreign  invader 
is  not  surprising.  But  their  doom  was  sealed.  No  longer  able  to 
maintain  their  isolated  sway,  or  to  resist  the  destructive  agencies  at 
work  among  them,  a  weak  and  declining  remnant,  Uke  the  Catawbas 
themselves,  they  gladly  accepted  the  invitation  to  unite  their  future 
with  that  of  their  brethren  who  had  gone  before  them. 

And  now  was  seen  their  last  journey  as  the  representatives  of  a 
nation  of  ancient  renown. 

Mournful  as  it  was  short,  the  march  was  soon  ended;  and  hence- 
forth these  broken  fragments  were  to  constitute  but  one  nation,  under 
the  name  of  Catawbas.  For  awhile,  as  at  the  first,  the  Cheraws 
retained  their  own  language,  though  ordinarily  using  the  Catawba. 

They  Uved  in  harmony  together,  their  early  feuds  forgotten,  and 
the  jealousies  of  other  days  obhterated  by  those  conmion  wants  and 
saddened  recollections  which  were  henceforth  to  mark  their  dechning 
history.  Within  the  memory  of  persons  now  living  a  few  of  the 
Cheraws  have  visited  the  upper  Pedee,  to  take  a  last  look  at  the  locah- 
ties  which  their  own  traditions  had  identified  as  the  homes  of  their 
fathers.  About  the  year  1700  the  Catawbas  numbered  1,500  warriors. 
Only  a  half  century  later  this  proud  band  had  dwindled  away  to  400. 
Their  principal  settlement  about  this  latter  period  was  on  the  Wateree, 
where  their  country  was  described  as  being  ''  an  old  waste  field,  seven 
miles  in  extent,  with  several  others  of  smaller  dimensions;  which 
shows,"  it  was  added,  ''that  they  were  formerly  a  numerous  people, 
to  cultivate  so  much  land,  with  their  dull  stone  axes,  before  they  had 
an  opportunity  of  trading  with  the  Enghsh,  or  allowed  others  to  incor- 
porate with  them."  ^ 

'  Adair. 


208  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

In  1787  they  were  the  only  organized  tribe,  under  a  distinct  name 
of  its  own,  in  South  Carohna. 

Their  town,  "Catawba,"  contained  then  about  450  inhabitants,  of 
which  not  more  than  150  were  fighting  men.  In  1798  they  are  said  to 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  holding  an  anniversary  meeting  of  a  sadly 
interesting  character.  It  was  intended  to  commemorate  their  former 
greatness  by  recounting  the  numbers  and  deeds  of  their  ancestors,  of 
which  tradition  had  kept  them  informed.^  Well  might  the  Catawbas 
have  been  proud  of  their  history.  And  well  may  South  Carolina 
cherish  the  memory  of  a  people  who  maintained  their  friendship  and 
their  active  devotion  inviolate  throughout  the  long  and  trying  period 
of  conflicts  waged  successively  with  savage  foes,  and  those  of  the  same 
language  and  blood  who  came  to  reduce  their  American  brethren  to  a 
state  of  worse  than  colonial  vassalage ! 

Of  the  liberal  provision  made  for  the  Catawbas  in  later  times  by 
the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  it  is  unnecessary  to  speak. 

A  portion  of  them  had  removed  at  an  earlier  period  to  Buncombe 
County,  N.  C,  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  and  thither  the  miserable 
remnant,  with  few  exceptions,  followed  a  few  years  since.  Reduced 
in  numbers  by  disease  and  intermarriage,  by  the  contracted  territory 
to  which  they  had  been  confined  while  yet  unfitted,  by  the  slow 
process  through  which  the  Indian  must  always  pass,  for  agricultural 
pursuits;  and  withal,  by  those  habits  of  idleness  and  dissipation 
which  the  custom  of  leasing  their  lands  to  the  whites,  and  the  con- 
sequent want  of  employment  had  subjected  them;  drunken  and 
wandering  from  place  to  place,  their  condition  became  as  abject  as 
it  had  once  been  elevated  among  the  red  men  of  Carolina.  "In 
this  rapidly  declining  tribe,"  says  an  eminent  authority  of  recent 
times,  "we  behold  the  remnant  of  the  defeated,  long-lost,  and  cele- 
brated tribe  of  the  Eries."  It  is  hoped  that  their  history,  in  the 
materials  of  which  the  public  records  of  the  State  abound,  wiU  one 
day,  as  it  deserves,  be  fuUy  written. 

Of  the  languages  of  the  Indian  tribes  once  inhabiting  the  valley 
of  the  Pedee  scarce  a  vestige  is  left,  except  the  names  of  the  rivers 
and  a  few  localities.  The  same  remark  may  be  made  of  all  the  tribes 
which  were  found  at  the  first  approaches  of  the  white  man  on  the 
coast  of  Carohna,  from  Cape  Hatteras  to  the  Savannah.^ 

Of  the  meaning  of  "Cheraw,"  reasoning  from  the  affinities  of  the 
Indian  tongues,  a  probable  conjecture  may  be  hazarded.  In  Cherah, 
or  Chera,  as  it  seems  at  certain  periods  of  Indian  history  to  have  been 
called,  is  found  a  close  affinity  with  Chera-kee.  In  the  language  of 
the  Chera-kees,  Cherah,  or  Chera,  means  fire.  If,  then,  as  seems 
highly  probable,  Cherah  is  identical  with  Serah,  or  Saraw,  or  Sara — 
as  Lederer  called  it  now  Cheraw,  it  may  be  conjectured  to  have 
meant  the  fire  town.  The  site  of  the  present  town  of  Cheraw,  which 
has  retained  the  name,  with  slight  changes,  from  an  early  period, 
may  have  been  the  scene  of  an  extensive  conflagration  when  occupied 
by  the  Indians;  or,  being  situated  on  a  high  bluff,  and  visible  as  a 
point  of  observation  and  alarm  for  miles  across,  it  may  have  been  a 
signal  station,  as  such  prominent  localities  often  were,  to  gain  the 
knowledge  of  an  enemy's  approach,  or  other  danger,  and  hence  may 
have  been  called  Cherah ;  in  Cherokee,  the  fii'e  town :  or,  as  may  seem 

'  Baton's  New  View,  p.  61.         ''■  Transactions  of  American  Ethnological  Society,  Vol.  11,  p.  115 


INDIANS   OF    NOETH   CAEOLINA.  209 

yet  more  probable,  in  another  view;  if,  about  the  period  of  their 
first  distinct  existence  as  a  tribe,  being  possibly  an  offshoot  from  the 
Cherakees,  at  the  era  of  some  internal  struggle  and  partial  dismem- 
berment of  that  once  powerful  and  widely  extended  nation,  the 
Cherahs,  or  Cheraws,  were  noted  as  fire  eaters,  as  some  of  the  Indian 
tribes  have  been,  the  original  of  the  name  may  be  found  in  this 
circumstances — Cheraw  meaning  fire  eaters.  After  all,  however,  it 
is  one  of  those  points,  the  original  of  language  in  the  aboriginal  races, 
which,  without  the  light  of  contemporaneous  history,  must  ever 
remain  involved  in  more  or  less  of  darkness  and  uncertainty. 

Of  the  meaning  of  "Pedee"  nothing  is  known.  It  has  even  been 
made  a  question  whether  the  name  is  of  Indian  origin;  and  the 
opinion  has  been  advanced  that  it  is  not,  on  the  ground  that  it 
appears  to  have  been  unknown  prior  to  the  Enghsh  colonial  settle- 
ments. Hence  it  is  conjectured  that  it  was  of  subsequent  origin, 
having  had  its  beginning,  perhaps,  in  the  initials  of  a  white  man's 
name,  as  of  Patrick  Daly,  for  example — P.  D. — first  carved  upon  a 
tree,  then  Indianized,  and  so  changed  into  Pedee,  as  we  now  have 
it.     This  theory,  however,  is  wholly  untenable. 

That  the  name  is  not  mentioned  by  the  earhest  writers  is  readily 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  Pedees,  if  ever  a  people  of  any 
note,  had  then  become  an  insignificant  tribe;  whereas  only  the  more 
powerful  nations  of  Indians  engaged  attention  at  first,  or  were  so 
much  as  known  by  name.  The  earhest  mention  of  Pedee  is  found 
in  the  account  of  the  Eleven  Townships,  one  of  which  was  to  be 
laid  out  on  that  river.  This  was  about  the  year  1731-32.^  But 
then  it  was  spoken  of  as  having  aheady  been  in  familiar  use.  It 
was  spelt,  too,  not  as  if  it  had  come  from  two  capital  letters,  the 
initials  of  a  proper  name. 

Both  the  analogy  and  euphony  of  the  Indian  tongue  indicate, 
beyond  all  doubt,  that  Pedee  had  the  same  original  as  Santee,  Con- 
garee,  Wateree,  Uchee,  and  Sewee,  all  of  unquestionable  Indian  birth, 
and  the  names  of  neighboring  and  cognate  tribes.  That  the  name 
Pedee  does  not  appear  in  the  earhest  pubhshed  accounts  of  Carolina 
may  be  attributed  to  the  fact  that  for  a  considerable  time  after  the 
first  settlement  of  the  province,  scarcely  anything  was  known  of 
that  part  of  the  State,  because  out  of  the  line  of  the  main  route  of 
travel,  far  in  the  interior,  and  at  a  later  period  only  coming  into 
notice. 

Of  the  Indian  remains  on  the  Pedee  which  are  still  to  be  seen, 
though  but  httle  trace  is  left,  there  is  nothing  distinguishable  from 
those  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  of  which  full  accounts  have  been 
given.  In  some  instances  these  remains  are  so  numerous  as  to  indi- 
cate the  existence  of  once  populous  settlements.  These  settlements, 
as  usually  the  case  with  the  aborigines,  were  made  upon  the  banks 
of  rivers  and  other  large  streams,  on  account  of  the  fertihty  of  the 
soil,  for  fishing  purposes,  and  other  facilities  thereby  afforded. 

In  most  instances  on  the  Pedee  where  these  remains  are  yet  to  be 
seen  are  found  large  collections  of  fragments  of  potware  of  varied 
shapes,  sizes,  and  devices.  It  is  difficult  even  to  conjecture  why 
such  quantities  of  these  were  deposited  at  points  not  far  removed 
from  each  other.     They  could  scarcely  have  been  the  result  of  large 

'  Carroll's  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  n,  p.  124. 
75321°— S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 14 


210  INDIANS  OP  NORTH  CAEOLINA. 

accumulations  in  those  places  where  the  potware  was  made,  for  they 
are  generally  found  to  be  well-finished  specimens  of  their  kind,  and 
evidently  parts  of  vessels  which  were  once  in  use.  Nor  does  it  appear 
to  be  a  well-founded  opinion,  sometimes  advanced,  that  upon  the 
sudden  breaking  up  of  the  Indian  settlements,  for  whatever  cause, 
these  vessels  of  ornament  or  use  were  heaped  together  in  one  con- 
fused mass,  and  with  such  other  chattels  as  could  not  be  removed 
abandoned  forever.  Their  appearance  indicates  that  they  were 
broken  by  violence;  and  what  is  more  remarkable,  of  all  the  speci- 
mens taken  up  at  random  in  any  single  locality,  scarcely  any  two 
are  found  to  be  exactly  alike  in  outward  device  and  finish. 

The  ornamental  lines  and  figures  on  the  exterior  are  in  many  cases 
well  executed,  and  for  the  untutored  savage  extiibit  a  high  degree  of 
art.  The  questions,  how  they  were  broken,  why  collected  in  such 
strangely  mingled  masses,  and  why  other  remains,  as  the  pipe,  the 
arrowhead,  the  stone  ax,  etc.,  are  not  generally  found  among  them, 
will  remain  unanswered;  and  like  so  much  else  we  would  fain  know 
respecting  these  early  occupants  of  the  soil,  continue  perhaps  among 
the  secret  things  of  their  history. 

A  large  vase  or  jar/  of  3  gallons'  capacity,  was  washed  up  a 
few  years  since  by  the  waters  of  a  freshet  on  the  east  bank  of  the 
Pedee,  in  Marlborough  district,  near  Spark's  Ferry.  It  is  in  a  state 
of  almost  entile  preserv^ation,  but  not  so  highly  finished  as  are  many 
of  the  broken  specimens  which  bav^e  been  recovcxed.  Like  those  to 
which  Lawson  alludes  in  his  "account  of  the  Congerees,  this  jar  has  a 
hole  in  the  bottom,  not  smoothly  cut,  but  roughly  and  irregularly 
made,  as  if  punched  through  by  some  blunt  instrument  after  the 
vessel  was  finished.  Lawson  supposes  that  ihey  were  sometimes 
used  for  burial  purposes  and  that  the  holes  were  made  in  the  bottom 
to  let  off  the  morbid  juices  of  the  body  going  to  decay.  Some  of 
the  specimens  of  potware  found  are  highly  finished,  and  upon  the 
whole  appear  to  warrant  the  conclusion  arrived  at  by  the  first  and 
most  thoughtful  travelers  among  our  Indian  tribes,  and  since  clearly 
demonstrated  by  the  results  of  later  explorations,  that  those  whom 
the  Europeans  found  on  their  first  discovery  and  settlement  of  the 
country  were  not  the  ancient  dwellers  in  this  part  of  the  New  World. 

The  earthen  pots, 

says  Lawson — 

are  often  found  under  ground  and  at  the  foot  of  the  banks,  where  the  water  has  washed 
them  away.  They  are  for  the  most  part  broken  in  pieces;  but  we  find  them  of  a 
different  sort,  in  comparison  of  those  the  Indians  use  at  this  day,  who  have  had  no 
others  ever  since  the  English  discovered  America.  The  bowels  of  the  earth  can  not 
have  altered  them,  since  they  are  thicker,  of  another  shape  and  composition,  and 
nearly  approach  to  the  urns  of  the  ancient  Romans.^ 

We  are  told  that  they  made  earthen  pots  of  very  different  sizes,  so 
as  to  contain  from  2  to  10  gallons;  large  pitchers  to  carry  water, 
bowls,  dishes,  platters,  basins,  and  a  prodigious  number  of  other 
vessels  of  such  antiquated  forms  that  it  would  be  almost  impossible 
to  describe  them. 

Some  of  the  specimens,  in  a  fragmentary  form,  and  others  in  a 
state  of  preservation,  which  were  found  on  the  Pedee,  are  of  different 
shapes  and  ciu-iously  finished.     Of  these  one  is  very  small,  not  holding 

1  This  vessel  was  presented  to  the  Cheraw  Lyceum  by  Col.  J.  D.  Wilson,  of  Darlington. 

2  Lawson,  pp.  1C3,  170. 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA.  211 

more  than  a  gill,  and  seems  to  have  been  used  for  paint  or  some 
other  valuable  liquid. 

Another/  of  which  the  lower  portion  only  is  left,  has  the  exact 
shape,  the  outward  finish,  and  as  much  the  appearance  of  a  pineapple 
as  if  it  had  been  carefully  fashioned  after  that  as  a  model.  The  proc- 
ess of  glazing  was  simple,  and  consisted  in  placing  the  vessels  over  a 
large  fire  of  smoky  pitch  pine,  which  made  them  smooth  and  shining. 
"Their  lands  abounded  in  proper  clay  for  that  use,  and  even  with 
porcelain,  as  has  been  proved  by  experiment."  When  first  discov- 
ered on  the  coast,  the  Indians  were  found  to  cultivate  a  variety  of 
grains  and  vegetables.  The  process  of  clearing  their  lands  has  been 
minutely  described.  Their  stone  axes,  of  which  specimens  have  been 
found  on  the  Pedee,  resembled  a  wedge  or  smith's  chisel  and  weighed 
from  1  to  2  or  3  pounds.  They  twisted  two  or  three  tough  hickory 
slips  about  2  feet  long  around  the  notched  head  of  the  ax  and  by 
means  of  this  simple  contrivance  deadened  the  trees  by  cutting 
through  the  bark,  after  which  they  fell  by  decay  or,  having  become 
thoroughly  dry,  were  easily  burned. 

With  these  trees  they  kept  up  their  annual  holy  fire.  In  the  first 
clearing  of  their  plantations  they  only  barked  the  larger  timber,  cut 
down  the  saplings  and  underwood,  and  burned  them  in  heaps.  As 
the  suckers  put  up,  they  chopped  them  off  close  by  the  stump,  and  so 
made  fires  to  deaden  the  roots  till  in  time  they  also  decayed.  The 
burning  of  the  grass  and  underwood  in  the  forests  is  said  to  have 
been  an  ancient  custom  of  the  Indians.  This  may  account  for  the 
fact,  which  has  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  first  settle- 
ments by  the  whites  in  the  interior,  that  in  many  places  the  woods 
were  found  open  to  such  an  extent  that  even  small  objects  could  be 
seen  to  a  great  distance.  These  burnings  were  practiced  by  the 
Indians,  as  we  are  told, 

in  order  to  allure  the  deer  upon  the  new  grass,  as  also  to  discover  the  impressions  of 
their  enemies'  tracks  in  the  new  burnt  ground,  distinguishable  to  their  women  and 
children,  in  case  the  raven  should  be  sick  or  out  of  the  way  (thus  they  call  the  look- 
out, whose  business  it  is  to  recognize  the  avenues  of  their  towns),  who,  as  well  as  any 
other  Indian  (as  tliey  all  apply  themselves  to  hunting),  are  by  practice  so  keen  and 
precise  that  tbey  can  distinguish  and  follow  a  track,  be  it  of  a  white  man,  negro, 
Indian,  or  be  it  of  a  bear,  deer,  or  wolf,  horse  or  cow,  even  on  hard  bottom,  not  admit- 
ting of  impression  so  as  on  soft  groimd,  although  covered  all  over  with  leaves  so  that 
the  ground  itself  is  not  visible,  and  even  bare  of  any  grass  or  busies,  which  by  their 
irregular  bend  may  indicate  a  creature — human  or  animal —ha ving  trod  upon  or 
brushed  by  it.^ 

Having  cleared  their  lands  in  the  primitive  maimer  before  de- 
scribed, the  Indians  used,  in  planting  and  tilling,  their  own  made 
instruments.  Afterwards  a  common  hoe  was  the  only  implement 
employed  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.  They  prepared  their  corn 
for  use  by  beating  it  till  the  husks  came  off,  then  boiling  it  in  large 
earthen  pots.  For  pounding  the  corn,  mortars  were  made  by  cau- 
tiously burning  a  large  log  to  a  proper  level  and  length,  then  placing 
a  fire  on  the  top  and  wet  clay  around  it,  in  order  to  give  the  interior 
a  proper  shape.  "\¥hen  the  fire  was  extinguished,  or  occasion  re- 
quired, they  chopped  the  inside  with  their  stone  instruments,  pa- 
tiently continuing  the  process  until  they  finished  the  vessel  for  the 
intended  purpose. 

1  This  was  also  presented  to  the  Cheraw  Lyceum  liy  Col.  Wilson. 

'De  Brahm's  Philosophico-Historico-Hydrogeography  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  East  Florida, 
1751.    Edited  and  republished  by  Plowden  C.  J.  Weston,  1856,  p.  189. 


212  IISTDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA. 

In  certain  localities  on  the  Pedee,  whicli  appear  to  have  been  the 
centers  *  of  their  once  extensive  settlements,  many  tumuli  were  once 
to  be  seen. 

They  were  similar  to  some  of  those  described  by  Bartram  ^  in  East 
Florida,  near  the  river  St.  Juan,  "where,"  he  observes — 

I  found  the  surface  of  the  ground  very  xmeven  by  means  of  little  mounts  and  ridges. 
I  had  taken  up  my  lodging  on  the  border  of  an  ancient  burying-ground ;  sepulchers  or 
tumuli  of  the  Yamassees,  who  were  here  slain  by  the  Creeks  in  their  last  decisive 
battle.  These  graves  occupied  the  whole  grove,  consisting  of  two  or  three  acres  of 
ground. 

During  a  visit  of  the  author  in  1859  to  the  upper  part  of  Marl- 
borough district,  near  the  North  Carolina  line,  a  mound  was  pointed 
out  to  him  which  is  related  by  tradition  to  have  been  the  scene  of  an 
Indian  battle.  On  a  subsequent  occasion  it  was  visited  for  the  pur- 
pose of  exploration.  It  appears  to  have  been  raised  originally  but  a 
few  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  adjoining  level,  and  had  been  almost 
entirely  washed  down.  Its  dimensions  were  about  ten  by  fifteen 
feet.  Many  years  before,  a  partial  excavation  had  been  made,  and 
in  digging  down  on  this  occasion  for  a  short  distance  small  pieces  of 
bone  were  found  mixed  with  the  earth  throughout,  so  that  no  opinion 
could  be  formed  as  to  the  depth  of  the  first  layer  of  bodies.  Four 
feet  below  the  surface  a  point  was  reached  where  the  soil  had  not 
been  disturbed,  and  a  little  below  this  were  found  from  four  to  six 
skeletons,  lying  regularly,  in  a  horizontal  position,  with  the  feet  to 
the  east,  having  evidently  been  placed  in  two  layers.  The  larger 
bones  were  in  a  comparative  state  of  preservation,  and  one  of  the  jaw- 
bones with  the  teeth  entire,  apparently  of  a  person  about  middle  age. 
With  the  bones  were  found  a  stone  hatchet,  a  beautiful  arrowhead, 
and  a  pipe,  and  strange  to  relate,  the  smell  of  tobacco  about  the  pipe 
was  perceptible  for  several  hours  after  the  exhumation.  The  tra- 
dition relating  to  the  battle  and  the  burial  was  well  founded,  and 
carried  them  nearly  a  century  back. 

As  to  tobacco,  the  Indians  affirmed,  as  some  of  the  earliest  travel- 
ers among  them  inform  us,  that  the  use  of  it  was  known  to  them  before 
the  Europeans  discovered  the  continent.  The  skill  of  the  Indians  in 
medicine,  in  certain  diseases,  was  remarkable,  the  process  of  cure 
being  simple  and  expeditious.  The  knowledge  of  some  of  the  most 
valuable  plants  now  in  use  was  derived  from  them.' 

Some  of  the  customs  of  the  Indians  of  Carolina  indicated  a  degree 
of  kindness  and  social  affection,  as  well  as  an  appreciation  of  duty, 
of  which  they  are  not  generally  supposed  to  have  been  possessed. 
When,  for  example,  one  of  their  own  nation  had  suffered  any  loss  by 
fire,  or  otherwise,  he  was  ordered  to  make  a  feast,  to  which  all  the 
tribe  was  invited.  After  they  had  partaken  of  the  feast,  one  of  their 
speakers,  generally  a  grave  old  man,  delivered  a  harangue,  informing 
them  of  the  particulars  of  the  loss  sustained,  and  of  their  duty  under 
such  circumstances.  After  which,  every  man,  according  to  his 
quality,  threw  down  some  present  upon  the  ground,  of  beads,  skins, 
furs,  or  other  valuables,  which  often  amounted  to  treble  the  loss 
incurred. 

So,  if  one  wished  to  build  a  canoe,  or  make  a  cabin,  they  rendered 
him  assistance,  saying,  "There  were  several  works  which  one  man 

iThe  plantation  of  the  late  James  McCall,  Esq.,  in  Darlington  district,  on  the  Pedee,  is  an  instance  ol 
this,  where  many  remains  of  the  kind  were  once  visil  le,  though  now  lor  the  most  part  leveled  by  the  plow. 
'  Bartram's  Travels  in  the  Carolinas,  Georgia,  East  and  West  Florida,  1773-74. 
'Lawson,  p.  172. 


INDIANS   OP   NORTH   CAROLINA.  213 

could  not  effect,  and  that  therefore  they  must  help  him;  otherwise 
their  society  would  fall,  and  they  would  be  deprived  of  those  urgent 
necessities  which  life  requires."  If  a  woman  lost  her  husband,  and 
had  a  large  family  of  children  to  maintain,  she  was  always  assisted. 
The  young  men  of  the  tribe  were  made  to  plant,  reap,  and  do  any- 
thing she  was  not  capable  of  doing  herself.  At  the  same  time  they 
would  not  suffer  anyone  to  be  idle,  but  compelled  all  to  employ  them- 
selves in  some  work  or  other.* 

As  to  religion,  they  believed  generally  that  the  world  was  round, 
and  that  there  were  two  spirits,  the  one  good  and  the  other  bad.  The 
good  spirit  they  reckoned  to  be  the  author  and  maker  of  everything. 
It  was  He,  they  said,  who  gave  them  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  and 
taught  them  to  hunt,  fish,  and  be  wise  enough  to  overpower  the 
beasts  of  the  wilderness  and  all  other  creatures,  that  they  might  be 
assistant  and  beneficial  to  man.  They  did  not  believe  that  the  Good 
Spirit  punished  any  man  in  this  hfe,  or  that  to  come,  but  that  he 
delighted  in  doing  good,  and  in  making  his  creatures  wise  and  happy. 
The  bad  spirit  (who  hved,  as  they  thought,  separate  from  the  Good 
Spirit)  they  made  the  author  of  sickness,  disappointment,  loss,  hunger, 
travail,  and  all  the  misfortunes  that  human  lite  is  incident  to.  Some 
of  our  aborigines  were  found  to  have  traditions  of  the  great  Deluge, 
and  of  this  event  they  gave  a  curious  description.  Of  some  of  their 
practices,  and  one  in  particular,  Lawson  gives  a  singular  account. 
He  says — 

Several  customs  are  found  in  some  families,  which  others  keep  not;  as,  for  example, 
the  families  of  the  Mach-a-pangas  use  the  Jewish  custom  of  circumcision, and  the  rest 
do  not;  neither  did  I  ever  know  any  other  amongst  the  Indians  that  practiced  any 
Buch  thing;  and  perhaps  if  you  ask  them  what  is  the  reason  they  do  so,  they  will  make 
you  no  manner  of  answer;  which  is  as  much  as  to  say,  I  will  not  tell  you.^ 

They  seem  to  have  been  unwilling,  for  the  most  part,  to  give  any 
account  of  their  customs,  particularly  those  of  a  religious  character. 

And  so,  the  same  writer  remarks,  that  he  knew  them,  for  days 
together,  to  be  amongst  their  idols  and  dead  kings,  though  he  could 
never  get  admittance  to  their  sacred  places  to  see  what  they  were 
doing.  The  fact  of  their  practicing  idolatry  at  all  has  been  positively 
denied  by  other  travelers,  who  profess  to  have  informed  themselves 
of  all  that  relates  to  their  habits  and  customs.  It  is  Ukely  that  the 
different  tribes,  remote  from  each  other,  and  possibly  of  different 
origin,  differed  much  in  their  customs  and  traditional  observances, 
and  hence  the  conflicting  accounts  which  have  been  given.  Of  one 
custom,  remarkable  as  it  is  suggestive,  which  Lawson  affirms  to  have 
prevailed  among  the  Indians  of  Carohna,  and  of  which  no  other 
writer  is  beheved  to  give  any  account,  it  may  gratify  the  curiosity  of 
the  reader  to  be  informed.  It  is  very  certain  that  it  must  have 
nipped  the  risings  of  aboriginal  Young  Americanism  in  the  bud,  leav- 
ing to  a  far  superior  race  to  exhibit,  in  the  management  of  their  youth, 
much  more  indecision  and  weakness. 

There  is  one  most  abominable  custom — 

Says  Lawson — 

which  they  call  husquenaiiing  their  young  men,  which  I  have  not  made  any  mention 
of  yet. 

Most  commonly  once  a  year,  or  at  farthest  once  in  two  years,  these  people  take  up 
so  many  of  their  young  men  as  they  think  are  able  to  undergo  it  and  husquenaugh 
them,  which  is  to  make  them  obedient  and  respective  to  their  superiors,  and  (as  they 

>  Lawson,  pp.  178-179.  2  Lawson,  pp.  210,  211. 


214  IFDIAFS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

say)  is  the  same  to  them  as  it  is  to  us  to  send  our  children  to  school  to  be  taught  good 
breeding  and  letters.  This  house  of  correction  is  a  strong,  large  cabin ,  made  on  purpose 
for  the  reception  of  the  young  men  and  boys  that  have  not  passed  this  graduation 
already,  and  it  is  always  at  Christmas  that  they  husquenaugh  their  youth,  which  is 
by  bringing  them  into  this  house  and  keeping  them  dark  all  the  time,  where  they  more 
than  half  starve  them.  Besides,  they  give  them  pellitory  bark  and  several  intoxi- 
cating plants  that  make  them  go  driving  mad  as  ever  were  any  people  in  the  world. 
You  may  hear  them  make  the  most  dismal  cries  and  bowlings  that  ever  human  crea- 
tures expressed,  all  which  continues  about  five  or  six  weeks;  and  the  little  meat  they 
eat  is  the  nastiest,  loathsome  stuff,  and  mixed  with  all  manner  of  filth  its  possible  to 
get.  After  the  time  is  expired,  they  are  brought  out  of  the  cabin,  which  never  is  in 
the  town,  but  always  a  distance  off,  and  guarded  by  a  jailer  or  two,  who  watch  by  turns. 
And  when  they  first  come  out  they  are  poor  as  ever  any  creatures  were ;  for  you  must 
know  several  die  under  this  diabolical  purgation.  Moreover,  they  really  either  are 
or  pretend  to  be  drunk,  and  do  not  speak  for  several  days;  I  think,  20  or  30,  and 
look  so  ghastly  and  are  so  changed  that  its  next  to  an  impossibility  to  know  them 
again,  although  you  was  never  so  well  acquainted  with  them  before.  I  would  fain 
have  gone  into  the  madhouse  and  seen  them  in  their  time  of  purgatory,  but  the  king 
would  not  suffer  it,  because  he  told  me  that  they  would  do  me  or  any  other  white  man 
an  injury  that  ventured  in  amongst  them;  so  I  desisted.  They  play  this  prank  with 
girls  as  well  as  boys,  and  I  believe  it  is  a  miserable  life  they  endure,  because  I  have 
known  several  of  them  run  away  at  that  time  to  avoid  it.  Now,  the  savages  say,  if  it 
was  not  for  this,  they  could  not  keep  their  youth  in  subjection:  besides,  that  it  hardens 
them  after  to  the  fatigues  of  war,  hunting,  and  all  manner  of  hardship  which  their 
way  of  living  exposes  them  to.  Besides,  they  add,  that  it  carries  off  those  infirm, 
weak  bodies  that  would  have  been  only  a  burden  and  disgrace  to  their  nation,  and 
saves  the  victuals  and  clothing  for  better  people  that  would  have  been  expended  on 
such  useless  creatures.^ 

Lawson  is  the  only  one  of  the  early  Indian  travelers  in  South  Caro- 
lina, except  Lederer,  who  passed  through  those  parts  of  the  State 
inhabited  by  the  ancient  dwellers  on  the  Pedee.  A  large  part  of 
his  book,  however,  is  taken  up  with  the  natural  history  of  North 
Carolina.  He  commenced  a  journey  from  Charleston,  December  28, 
1700,  passed  up  the  Santee  and  Wateree  Rivers,  and  thence  probably 
across  to  the  Yadkin,  and  through  North  CaroUna  into  Virginia. 
Among  the  Catawbas  he  must  have  met  with  the  Cheraws  and  Pedees, 
if  not  in  the  parts  higher  up  on  our  own  river,  though  he  does  not 
mention  them  by  name.  In  speaking,  therefore,  of  the  Carolina  In- 
dians generally,  his  remarks  will  apply  to  these,  as  well  as  others  more 
particularly  mentioned. 

A  few  years  after  he  was  put  to  death  in  a  most  barbarous  manner 
by  the  Indians  in  eastern  North  Carolina,  to  which  State  he  had  ren- 
dered most  important  service  as  surveyor  general,  as  well  as  by  his 
interesting  account  of  the  natural  history  of  that  region. 

The  author  at  one  time  cherished  the  hope  of  procuring  some  valu- 
able traditional  matter  as  to  the  Cheraws  through  WUliam  H.  Thomas, 
Esq.,  of  North  Carolina,  of  whom  ment'on  has  already  been  made. 
It  was  thought  not  unlikely  that  during  his  long  and  familiar  inter- 
course with  the  Catawbas,  Mr.  Thomas  might  have  gathered  from 
their  traditions  something  of  the  history  of  the  Cheraws  before  the 
union  of  the  tribes;  but  the  hope  was  disappointed.  The  tradition 
of  the  Catawbas,  already  related,  seem  to  be  all  they  have  preserved. 
Every  other  source  of  information  now  accessible  has  been  exhausted. 
And  with  the  account  here  given,  meager  and  unsatisfactory  as  it  is, 
we  must  be  content,  leaving  these  early  occupants  of  the  soil,  proud 
and  valiant  and  numerous  as  they  once  were,  in  that  darlaiess  and 
oblivion  to  which  the  red  man,  as  he  has  receded  westward  before 
the  advancing  tide  of  civilization,  has  ever  been  consigned. 

1  Lawson,  pp.  233-234. 


EXHIBIT  J. 
HISTORY  OF  THE   CATAWBAS. 

[From  Hand  Book  of  American  Indians.] 

Catawba  (probably  from  Choctaw  Tcatdpa,  'divided/  'separated/ 
'a  division.' — Gatscliet).  The  most  important  of  the  eastern  Siouan 
tribes.  It  is  said  that  Lynche  Creek,  S.  C,  east  of  the  Catawba 
territory,  was  anciently  known  as  Kadapau;  and  from  the  fact  that 
Lawson  apphes  this  narne  to  a  small  band  met  by  him  southeast 
of  the  mam  body,  which  he  calls  Esaw,  it  is  possible  that  it  was 
originally  given  to  this  people  by  some  tribe  living  ia  east  South 
Carolina,  from  whom  the  first  colonists  obtained  it.  The  Cherokee, 
having  no  &  in  their  language,  changed  the  name  to  Atakwa,  plural 
Anitakwa.  The  Sha%vnee  and  other  tribes  of  the  Ohio  valley  made 
the  word  Cuttawa.  From  the  earliest  period  the  Catawba  have  also 
been  known  as  Esaw,  or  Issa  (Catawba  iswa' ,  'river'),  from  their 
residence  on  the  principal  stream  of  the  region,  Iswa  being  their 
only  name  for  the  Catawba  and  Watereers.  They  were  frequently 
included  by  the  Iroquois  under  the  general  term  Totiri,  or  Toderich- 
roone,  another  form  of  which  is  Tutelo,  applied  to  all  the  southern 
Siouan  tribes  collectively.  They  were  classed  by  Gallatin  (1836)  as  a 
distinct  st")ck,  and  were  so  regarded  until  Gatschet  visited  them  in 
1881  and  obtained  a  large  vocabulary  showing  numerous  Siouan 
correspondences.  Further  investigations  by  Hale,  Gatschet,  Mooney, 
and  Dorsey  proved  that  several  other  tribes  of  the  same  region  were 
also  of  Siouan  stock,  while  the  linguistic  forms  and  traditional  evi- 
dence all  point  to  this  eastern  region  as  the  original  home  of  the 
Siouan  tribes.  The  alleged  tradition  which  brings  the  Catawba 
from  the  n)rth,  as  refugees  from  the  French  and  their  Indian  aUies 
about  the  year  1660,  does  not  agree  in  any  of  its  main  points  with 
the  known  facts  of  history,  and,  if  genuine  at  all,  refers  rather  to 
some  local  incident  than  to  a  tribal  movement.  It  is  well  known 
that  the  Catawba  were  in  a  chronic  state  of  warfare  with  the  northern 
tribes,  whose  raiding  parties  they  sometimes  followed,  even  across 
the  Ohio. 

The  first  notice  of  the  Catawba  seems  to  be  that  of  Vandera  in 
1579,  who  calls  them  Issa  in  his  narrative  of  Pardo's  expedition. 
Nearly  a  century  later,  in  1670,  they  are  mentioned  as  Ushery  by 
Lederer,  who  claims  to  have  visited  them,  but  this  is  doubtful. 

Lawson,  who  passed  through  their  territory  in  1701,  speaks  of  them 
as  a  "powerful  nation"  and  states  that  their  villages  were  very  thick. 
He  calls  the  two  divisions,  which  were  living  a  short  distance  apart, 
by  different  names,  one  the  Kadapau  and  the  other  the  Esaw,  unaware 
of  the  fact  that  the  two  were  synonyms.  From  all  accounts  they 
were  formerly  the  most  populous  and  most  important  tribe  in  the 
Carolinas,  excepting  the  Cherokee.  Virginia  traders  were  already 
among  them  at  the  time  of  Lawson's  visit.  Adair,  75  years  later, 
says  that  one  of  the  ancient  cleared  fields  of  the  tribes  extended  7 

215 


216  INDIANS  OF   NOKTH   CAROLINA. 

miles,  besides  which  they  had  several  smaller  village  sites.  In  1728 
they  still  had  6  villages,  all  on  Catawba  River,  within  a  stretch  of 
20  miles,  the  most  northern  being  named  Nauvasa,  Their  prin- 
cipal village  was  formerly  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  in  what  is 
now  York  County,  S.  C,  opposite  the  mouth  of  Sugar  Creek.  The 
known  history  of  the  tribe  till  about  1760  is  chiefly  a  record  of  petty 
warfare  between  themselves  and  the  Iroquois  and  )ther  northern 
tribes,  throughout  which  the  colonial  government  tried  to  induce 
the  Indians  to  stop  killing  one  anotheo  and  go  to  killing  the  French. 
With  the  single  exception  of  their  alliance  with  the  hostile  Yamasi, 
in  1715,  they  were  uniformly  friendly  toward  the  English,  and  after- 
wards kept  peace  with  the  United  States,  bat  were  constantly  at  war 
with  the  Iroquois,  Shawnee,  Delawares,  and  other  tribes  of  the  Ohio 
Valley,  as  well  as  with  the  Cherokee.  The  Iroquois  and  the  Lake 
tribes  made  long  journeys  into  South  Carolina,  and  the  Catawba 
retaliated  by  sending  small  scalping  parties  into  Ohio  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. Their  losses  from  ceaseless  attacks  of  their  enemies  reduced 
their  numbers  steadily,  whUe  disease  and  debauchery  introduced 
by  the  whites,  especially  several  epidemics  of  smallpox,  accelerated 
their  destructi  )n,  so  that  before  the  close  of  the  18th  century  the 
great  nation  was  reduced  to  a  pitiful  remnant.  They  sent  a  large 
force  to  help  the  colonists  in  the  Tuscarora  war  of  1711-1713,  and 
als^  aided  in  expeditions  against  the  French  and  their  Indian  alUes 
at  Fort  Du  Quesne  and  elsewhere  during  the  French  and  Indian  war. 
Later  it  was  proposed  to  use  them  and  the  Cherokee  against  the  Lake 
tribes  under  Pontiac  in  1763.  They  assisted  the  Americans  also 
during  the  Revolution  in  the  defense  of  South  Carolina  against  the 
British,  as  well  as  in  Williamson's  expedition  against  the  Cherokee. 
In  1738  smallpox  raged  in  South  Carolina  and  worked  great  destruc- 
tion, not  only  am^ng  the  whites,  but  also  among  the  Catawba  and 
smaller  tribes.  In  1759  it  appeared  again,  and  this  time  destroyed 
nearly  half  the  tribe.  At  a  conference  at  Albany,  attended  by  dele- 
gates from  the  Six  Nations  and  the  Catawba,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  colonial  governments,  a  treaty  of  peace  was  made  between  thase 
two  tribes.  This  peace  was  probably  final  as  regards  the  Iroquois, 
but  the  western  tribes  continued  their  warfare  against  the  Catawba, 
who  were  now  so  reduced  that  they  could  make  little  effectual  resist- 
ance. In  1762  a  small  party  of  Shawnee  killed  the  noted  chief  of 
the  tribe.  King  Haiglar,  near  his  own  village.  From  this  time  the 
Catawba  ceased  to  be  of  importance  except  in  conjunction  with  the 
whites.  In  1763  they  had  confirmed  to  them  a  reservation,  assigned 
a  few  years  before,  of  15  miles  square,  on  both  sides  of  Catawba 
River,  within  the  present  York  and  Lancaster  Counties,  S.  C.  On 
the  approach  of  the  British  troops  in  1780  the  Catawba  withdrew 
temporarily  into  Virginia,  but  returned  after  the  battle  of  Guilford 
Court  House,  and  established  themselves  in  2  villages  on  the  reserva- 
tions known  respectively  as  Newton,  the  principal  village,  and  Turkey 
Head,  on  opposite  sides  of  Catawba  River.  In  1826  nearly  the 
whole  of  their  reservation  was  leased  to  whites  for  a  few  thousand 
dollars,  on  which  the  few  survivors  chiefly  depended.  About  1841 
they  sold  to  the  State  all  but  a  single  square  mile,  on  which  they  now 
reside.  About  the  same  time  a  number  of  the  Catawba,  dissatisfied 
with  their  condition  among  the  whites,  removed  to  the  eastern 
Cherokee  in  western  North  Carolina,  but  finding  their  position  among 


INDIANS   OP   NOETH   CAEOLINA.  .  217 

their  old  enemies  equally  unpleasant,  all  but  one  or  two  soon  went 
back  again.  An  old  woman,  the  last  survivor  of  this  emigration, 
died  among  the  Cherokee  in  1889.  A  few  other  Cherokee  are  now 
intermarried  with  that  tribe.  At  a  later  period  some  Catawba 
removed  to  the  Choctaw  Nation  in  Indian  Territory  and  settled 
near  Scullyville,  but  are  said  to  be  now  extinct.  About  1884  several 
became  converts  of  Mormon  missionaries  in  South  Carolina  and 
went  with  them  to  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 

The  Catawba  were  sedentary  agriculturists,  and  seem  to  have 
differed  but  little  in  general  customs  from  their  neighbors.  Their 
men  were  respected,  brave,  and  honest,  but  lacking  in  energy.  They 
were  good  hunters,  while  their  women  were  noted  makers  of  pottery 
and  baskets,  arts  which  they  still  preserve.  They  seem  to  have  prac- 
ticed the  custom  of  head  flattening  to  a  limited  extent,  as  did  several 
of  the  neighboring  tribes.  By  reason  of  their  dominant  position 
they  gradually  absorbed  the  broken  tribes  of  South  Carolina,  to  the 
number,  according  to  Adair,  of  perhaps  20. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  South  Carolina,  about  1682,  they  were 
estimated  at  1,500  warriors,  or  about  4,600  souls;  in  1728  at  400 
warriors,  or  about  1,400  persons.     In  1738  they  suffered  from  small- 

f)0x;  and  in  1743,  after  incorporating  several  small  tribes,  numbered 
ess  than  400  warriors.  In  1759  they  again  suffered  from  smallpox, 
and  in  1761  had  some  300  warriors,  or  about  1,000  people.  The 
number  was  reduced  in  1775  to  400  souls;  in  1780  it  was  490;  and 
in  1784  only  250  were  reported.  The  number  given  in  1822  is  450, 
and  Mills  gives  the  population  in  1826  as  only  110.  In  1881  Gatschet 
found  85  on  the  reservation,  which,  including  35  employed  on  neigh- 
boring farms,  made  a  total  of  120.  The  present  number  is  given 
as  60,  but  as  this  apparently  refers  only  to  those  attached  to  the 
reservation,  the  total  may  be  about  100. 

See  Lawson,  History  of  Carolina,  1714  and  1860;  Gatschet,  Creek 
Migration  Legend,  I-II,  1884-88;  Mooney  (1)  Siouan  Tribes  of  the 
East,  Bull.  22,  B.  A.  E.,  1894,  (2)  m  19th  Rep.  B.  A.  E.,  1900;  H. 
Lewis  Scaife,  History  and  Condition  of  the  Catawba  Indians,  1896. 

(j.  M.) 


EXHIBIT  K. 
HISTORY  OF  THE   CHERAWS. 

[From  Handbook  of  American  Indians.] 

Cheraw. — ^An  important  tribe,  very  probably  of  Siouan  stock,  for- 
merly ranging  in  central  Carolina,  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  from  about 
the  present  Danville,  Va.,  southward  to  the  neighborhood  of  Cheraw, 
S.  C.,  which  takes  its  name  from  them.  In  numbers  they  may  have 
stood  next  to  the  Tuscarora  among  the  North  Carolina  tribes,  but 
are  less  prominent  in  history  by  reason  of  their  almost  complete  de- 
struction before  the  white  settlements  had  reached  their  territory. 
They  are  mentioned  first  in  the  De  Soto  narrative  for  1540,  under  the 
name  Xuala,  a  corruption  of  Suali,  the  name  by  which  they  are  tra- 
ditionally known  to  the  Cherokee,  who  remember  them  as  having 
anciently  Hved  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge  from  Asheville.  In  the  earlier 
Carolina  and  Virginia  records  they  are  commonly  known  as  Saraw, 
and  at  a  later  period  as  Cheraw.  We  first  hear  of  ''Xuala  province" 
in  1540,  apparently  in  the  mountain  country  southward  from  Ashe- 
viUe.  In  1672,  Lederer,  from  Indian  information,  located  them  in  the 
same  general  region,  or  possibly  somewhat  farther  northeast,  "where 
the  mountains  bend  to  the  west,"  and  says  that  this  portion  of  the 
main  ridge  was  called  "Sualy  Mountain  "  from  the  tribe.  This  agrees 
with  Cherokee  tradition.  Some  years  later,  but  previous  to  1700, 
they  settled  on  Dan  River  near  the  south  line  of  Virginia,  where  the 
marks  of  their  fields  were  found  extending  for  several  miles  along  the 
river  by  Byrd,  in  1728,  when  running  the  dividing  line  between  the  two 
colonies.  There  seem  to  have  been  two  villages,  as  on  a  map  of  1760 
we  find  this  place  designated  as  "Lower  Saura  Town,"  while  about  30 
miles  above,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Dan  and  between  it  and  Town 
Fork,  is  another  place  marked  "Upper  Saura  Town."  They  are 
also  alluded  to  by  J.  F.  D.  Smyth  (Tour  in  United  States,  1784),  who 
says  the  upper  town  was  insignificant.  About  the  year  1710,  being 
harassed  by  the  Iroquois,  they  abandoned  their  home  on  the  Dan  and 
moving  southeast  joined  the  Keyauwee,  The  colonists  of  North 
Carolina  being  dissatisfied  at  the  proximity  of  these  and  other  tribes. 
Gov.  Eden  declared  war  against  the  Cheraw,  and  apphed  to  Virginia 
for  assistance.  This  Gov.  Spotswood  refused,  as  he  believed  the  peo- 
ple of  Carohna  were  the  aggressors;  nevertheless  the  war  was  carried 
on  against  them  and  their  allies  by  the  CaroHnas  until  the  defeat  and 
expulsion  of  the  Yamasi  in  1716.  During  this  period  complaint  was 
made  against  the  Cheraw,  who  were  declared  to  be  responsible  for 
most  of  the  mischief  done  north  of  Santee  River,  and  of  endeavoring 
to  draw  into  their  alUance  the  smaller  coast  tribes.  It  was  asserted 
by  the  Carohnians  that  arms  were  supphed  them  from  Virginia.  At 
the  close  of  the  Yamasi  war  the  Cheraw  were  dwelling  on  the  upper 
Pedee  near  the  line  between  the  Carohnas,  where  their  name  is  per- 
petuated in  the  town  of  Cheraw,  S.  C.  Their  number  in  1715, 
according  to  Rivers,  was  510,  but  this  estimate  probably  included  the 

218 


rNDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA.  219 

Keyauwee.  Being  still  subject  to  attack  by  the  Iroquois,  they 
finally — between  1726  and  1739 — became  incorporated  with  the 
Catawba,  with  whom  at  an  earHer  date  they  had  been  at  enmity. 
They  are  mentioned  as  with  the  Catawba  but  speakmg  their  own 
distinct  dialect  as  late  as  1743  (Adair).  In  1759  a  party  of  45  "Char- 
raws,"  some  of  whom  were  under  their  chief,  "Eong  Johnny,"  joined 
the  Enghsh  in  the  expedition  against  Fort  Du  Quesne.  The  last 
notice  of  them  is  in  1768,  when  their  remnant,  reduced  by  war  and 
disease  to  50  or  60,  were  still  living  with  the  Catawba,     (j.  m.) 


EXHIBIT  KK. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  CHEROKEES. 

[From  Handbook  of  American  Indians.] 

Cherokee. — A  powerful  detached  tribe  of  the  Iroquoian  family,  for- 
merly holding  the  whole  mountain  region  of  the  southern  Alleghenies, 
in  southwestern  Virginia,  western  North  Carolina  and  South  Carolina, 
northern  Georgia,  eastern  Tennessee,  and  northeastern  Alabama,  and 
claiming  even  to  the  Ohio  River.  The  tribal  name  is  a  corruption  of 
TsalagI  or  TsaragI,  the  name  by  which  they  commonly  called  them- 
selves, and  which  may  be  derived  from  the  Choctaw  cMluk-ki,  "  cave 
people,"  in  allusion  to  the  numerous  caves  in  their  mountam  country. 
They  sometimes  also  call  themselves  Ani'-Y'dn'wiyd' ,  "real  people," 
or  Ani'-KUu'Jiwagt,  "people  of  Kituhwa,"  one  of  their  most  impor- 
tant ancient  settlements.  Their  northern  kinsmen,  the  Iroquois,  called 
them  Oyata' ge^ronon\  "inhabitants  of  the  cave  country"  (Hewitt),  and 
the  Delawares  and  connected  tribes  called  them  Kittuwa,  from  the 
settlement  already  noted.  They  seem  to  be  identical  with  the 
Rickohockans,  who  invaded  central  Virginia  in  1658,  and  with  the 
ancient  TaUigewi,  of  Delaware  tradition,  who  were  represented  to 
have  been  driven  southward  from  the  upper  Ohio  River  region  by  the 
combined  forces  of  the  Iroquois  and  Delawares. 

The  language  has  three  principal  dialects:  (1)  Elati,  or  Lower, 
spoken  on  the  heads  of  Savannah  River  in  South  Carohna  and  Georgia; 
(2)  Middle,  spoken  chiefly  on  the  waters  of  Tuckasegee  River  in  western 
North  Carolina,  and  now  the  prevaihng  dialect  on  the  East  Cherokee 
reservation;  (3)  Atali,  Mountain  or  Upper,  spoken  throughout  most 
of  upper  Georgia,  eastern  Tennessee,  and  extreme  western  North 
Carolina.  The  lower  dialect  was  the  only  one  which  had  the  r  sound, 
and  is  now  extinct.  The  upper  dialect  is  that  which  has  been  ex- 
clusively used  in  the  native  literature  of  the  tribe. 

Traditional,  linguistic,  and  archaeologic  evidence  shows  that  the 
Cherokee  originated  in  the  North,  but  they  were  found  in  posses- 
sion of  the  southern  Allegheny  region  when  first  encountered  by  De 
Soto  in  1540.  Their  relations  with  the  Carolma  colonies  began  150 
years  later.  In  1736  the  Jesuit  (?)  Priber  started  the  first  mission 
among  them,  and  attempted  to  organize  their  government  on  a  civil- 
ized basis.  In  1759,  under  the  leadership  of  A'gansta'ta  (Oconos- 
tota),  they  began  war  with  the  English  of  Carolina.  In  the  Revolu- 
tion they  took  sides  against  the  Americans,  and  continued  the  struggle 
almost  without  interval  until  1794.  During  this  period  parties  of 
the  Cherokee  pushed  down  Tennessee  River  and  formed  new  settle- 
ments at  Chickamauga  and  other  points  about  the  Tennessee-Alabama 
line.  Shortly  after  1800  missionary  and  educational  work  was  estab- 
lished among  them,  and  in  1820  they  adopted  a  regular  form  of  gov- 
ernment modeled  on  that  of  the  United  States.  In  the  meantime 
large  numbers  of  the  more  conservative  Cherokee,  wearied  by  the 
encroachments  of  the  whites,  had  crossed  the  Mississippi  and  made 

220 


INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA.  221 

new  homes  in  the  wilderness  in  what  is  now  Arkansas.  A  year  or  two 
later  Sequoya  (q.  v.),  a  mixed  blood,  invented  the  alphabet,  which 
at  once  raised  them  to  the  rank  of  a  literary  people. 

At  the  height  of  their  prosperity  gold  was  discovered  near  the  pres- 
ent Dahlonega,  Ga.,  within  the  limits  of  the  Cherokee  Nation,  and  at 
once  a  powerful  agitation  was  begun  for  the  removal  of  the  Indians. 
After  years  of  hopeless  struggle  under  the  leadership  of  their  great 
chief,  John  Ross,  they  were  compelled  to  submit  to  the  inevitable, 
and  by  the  treaty  of  New  Echota,  December  29,  1835,  the  Cherokee 
sold  their  entire  remaining  territory  and  agreed  to  remove  beyond  the 
Mississippi  to  a  country  there  to  be  set  apart  for  them — the  present 
(1905)  Cherokee  Nation  in  Indian  Territory.  The  removal  was  accom- 
plished in  the  whiter  of  1838-39,  after  considerable  hardship  and  the 
loss  of  nearly  one-fourth  of  their  number,  the  unwilling  Indians  being 
driven  out  by  military  force  and  making  the  long  journey  on  foot. 
On  reaching  their  destination  they  reorganized  their  national  govern- 
ment, with  their  capital  at  Tahlequah,  admitting  to  equal  privileges 
the  earlier  emigrants,  known  as  ''old  settlers."  A  part  of  the  Arkan- 
sas Cherokee  had  previously  gone  down  into  Texas,  where  they  had 
obtained  a  grant  of  land  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  from  the 
Mexican  Government.  The  later  Texan  revolutionists  refused  to 
recognize  their  rights,  and  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  Gen.  Sam  Houston, 
who  defended  the  Indian  claim,  a  conflict  was  precipitated,  resulting, 
in  1839,  in  the  killing  of  the  Cherokee  chief,  Bowl  (q.  v.),  with  a  large 
number  of  his  men,  by  the  Texan  troops  and  the  expulsion  of  the 
Cherokee  from  Texas. 

When  the  main  body  of  the  tribe  was  removed  to  the  West  several 
hundred  fugitives  escaped  to  the  mountains,  where  they  lived  as 
refugees  for  a  time,  until,  in  1842,  through  the  efforts  of  William  H. 
Thomas,  an  influential  trader,  they  received  permission  to  remain  on 
lands  set  apart  for  their  use  in  western  North  Carolina.  They  consti- 
tute the  present  Eastern  Band  of  Cherokee,  residing  chiefly  on  the 
Qualla  Reservation,  in  Swain  and  Jackson  Counties,  with  several 
outlying  settlements. 

The  Cherokee  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  were  for  years  divided  into 
two  hostile  factions,  those  who  had  favored  and  those  who  had  opposed 
the  treaty  of  removal.  Hardly  had  these  differences  been  adjusted 
when  the  Civil  War  burst  upon  them.  Being  slave  owners  and  sur- 
rounded by  southern  influences,  a  large  part  of  each  of  the  Five  Civil- 
ized Tribes  of  the  Territory  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the  Confederacy, 
while  others  adhered  to  the  National  Government.  The  territory  of 
the  Cherokee  was  overrun  in  turn  by  both  armies,  and  the  close  of 
the  war  found  them  prostrated.  By  treaty  in  1866  they  were  read- 
mitted to  the  protection  of  the  United  States,  but  obliged  to  liberate 
their  negro  slaves  and  admit  them  to  equal  citizenship.  In  1867  and 
1870  the  Delawares  and  Shawnee,  respectively,  numbering  together 
about  1,750,  were  admitted  from  Kansas  and  incorporated  with  the 
nation.  In  1889  the  Cherokee  commission  (see  Commission)  was 
created  for  the  purpose  of  abolishing  the  tribal  governments  and  open- 
ing the  Territories  to  white  settlement,  with  the  result  that  after  15 
years  of  negotiation  an  agreement  was  made  by  which  the  government 
of  the  Cherokee  Nation  came  to  a  final  end  March  3,  1906;  the  Indian 
lands  were  divided,  and  the  Cherokee  Indians,  native  and  adopted, 
became  citizens  of  the  United  States. 


222  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

^  The  Cherokee  have  seven  clans,  viz:  Ani'-wa'"ya  (Wolf),  Ani'-Kawl' 
(Deer),  Ani'-Tsi'skwa  (Bird),  Ani'-wa'dl  (Paint),  Ani'-Saha'ni,  Ani'- 
Ga't^g6wl,  Ani'-Gil^'hi.  The  names  of  the  last  three  can  not  be 
translated  with  certainty.  There  is  evidence  that  there  were  anciently 
14,  which  by  extinction  or  absorption  have  been  reduced  to  their 
present  number.  The  Wolf  clan  is  the  largest  and  most  important. 
The  ''seven  clans"  are  frequently  mentioned  in  the  ritual  prayers 
and  even  in  the  printed  laws  of  the  tribe.  They  seem  to  have  had  a 
connection  with  the  "seven  mother  towns"  of  the  Cherokee,  described 
by  Cuming  in  1730  as  having  each  a  chief,  whose  office  was  hereditary 
in  the  female  line. 

The  Cherokee  are  j)robably  about  as  numerous  now  as  at  any  period 
in  their  history.  With  the  exception  of  an  estimate  in  1730,  which 
placed  them  at  about  20,000,  most  of  those  up  to  a  recent  period  gave 
them  12,000  or  14,000,  and  in  1758  they  were  computed  at  only  7,500. 
The  majority  of  the  earlier  estimates  are  probably  too  low,  as  the 
Cherokee  occupied  so  extensive  a  territory  that  only  a  part  of  them 
came  in  contact  with  the  whites.  In  1708  Gov.  Johnson  estimated 
them  at  60  villages  and  "at  least  500  men"  (Rivers,  S.  C,  238, 
1 856) .  In  1 71 5  they  were  officially  reported  to  number  11,210  (Upper, 
2,760;  Middle,  6,350;  Lower,  2,100),  including  4,000  warriors,  and 
living  in  60  villages  (Upper,  1 9 ;  Middle,  30 ;  Lower,  11).  In  1 720  they 
were  estimated  to  have  been  reduced  to  about  10,000,  and  again  in 
the  same  year  reported  at  about  11,500,  including  about  3,800  war- 
riors (Gov.  Johnson's  Rep.  in  Rivers,  op.  cit.,  93,  94,  103,  1874).  In 
1729  they  were  estimated  at  20,000,  with  at  least  6,000  warriors  and 
64  towns  and  villages  (Stevens,  Hist.  Ga.,  i,  48,  1847).  They  are  said 
to  have  lost  1,000  warriors  in  1739  from  smallpox  and  rum,  and  they 
suffered  a  steady  decrease  during  their  wars  with  the  whites,  extend- 
ing from  1760  until  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution.  Those  in  their 
original  homes  had  again  increased  to  16,542  at  the  time  of  their 
forced  removal  to  the  West  in  1838,  but  lost  nearly  one-fourth  on  the 
journey,  311  perishing  in  a  steamboat  accident  on  the  Mississippi. 
Those  already  in  the  West  before  the  removal  were  estimated  at 
about6,000.  TheCivilWarin  1861-1865  again  checked  their  progress, 
but  they  recovered  from  its  effects  in  a  remarkably  short  time,  and 
in  1885  numbered  about  19,000,  of  whom  about  17,000  were  in  Indian 
Territory,  together  with  about  6,000  adopted  whites,  negroes,  Dela- 
wares,  and  Shawnee,  while  the  remaining  2,000  were  still  in  their 
ancient  homes  in  the  East.  Of  this  eastern  band,  1,376  were  on 
Qualla  Reservation,  in  Swain  and  Jackson  Counties,  N.  C;  about 
300  are  on  Cheowah  River,  in  Graham  County,  N.  C,  while  the 
remainder,  all  of  mixed  blood,  are  scattered  over  eastern  Tennessee, 
northern  Georgia,  and  Alabama.  The  eastern  band  lost  about  300  by 
smallpox  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  War.  In  1902  there  were  officially 
reported  28,016  persons  of  Cherokee  blood,  including  all  degrees  of 
admixture,  in  the  Cherokee  Nation  in  the  Territory,  but  this  includes 
several  thousand  individuals  formerly  repudiated  by  the  tribal  courts. 
There  were  also  living  in  the  nation  abput  3,000  adopted  negro  freed- 
men,  more  than  2,000  adopted  whites,  and  about  1,700  adopted  Dela- 
ware, Shawnee,  and  other  Indians.  The  tribe  has  a  larger  proportion 
of  white  admixture  than  any  other  of  the  Five  Civilized  Tribes.  See 
Mooney,  Myths  of  Cherokee  Indians.  (Hand  Book  of  American 
Indians,  Bulletin  30,  Bureau  American  Ethnology.) 


EXHIBIT  L. 

LEGISLATION    BELATIVE     TO     INDIANS     OF    ROBESON     COUNTY. 

Exhibit  LI. 

[Amendments  (tx)  the  constitution  of  North  Carolina)  proposed  by  a  convention  of 
delegates  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina,  on  the  llth  of  July,  1835,  and  ratified  by 
the  people  on  the  second  Monday  of  November,  in  the  same  year.] 

Section  111. 

4:  :(:  4:  :j:  4:  4s  4: 

Clause  3,  No  free  negro,  free  mulatto,  or  free  person  of  mixed 
blood,  descended  from  negro  ancestors  to  the  fourtli  generation, 
inclusive  (though  one  ancestor  of  each  generation  may  have  been  a 
white  person),  shall  vote  for  members  of  the  senate  or  house  of 
commons. 


Exhibit  L2. 


[Revised  code  of  North  Carolina,  enacted  by  the  general  assembly  at  the  session  of 

1854.] 

CRIMES    AND    PUNISHMENTS — CHAPTER   34. 

Sec.  80.  If  any  clerk  of  the  court  of  pleas  and  quarter-sessions 
shall  knowingly  issue  any  license  for  marriage  between  any  free  per- 
son of  color  and  a  white  person;  or  if  any  clergyman,  minister  of  the 
gospel,  or  justice  of  the  peace  shall  knowingly  maiTy  any  such  free 
person  of  color  to  a  white  person,  the  person  so  offending  shall  be  guilty 
of  a  misdemeanor. 

MARRIAGE — CHAPTER    68. 

Sec.  7.  All  marriages  since  the  eighth  day  of  January,  eighteen 
hundred  and  thirty-nine,  and  all  marriages  in  future  between  a 
white  person  and  a  free  negro,  or  free  person  of  color,  to  the  third 
generation,  shall  be  void. 


Exhibit  13. 


[Constitution  of  North  Carolina,  amendment  of  1857 — Proposed  by  the  general  assem- 
bly in  1854,  December  11,  1856,  and  January  8,  1857,  and  ratified  by  the  people  the 
first  Thursday  in  August,  1857.] 

Every  free  white  man  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  being  a  native 
or  naturalized  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who  has  been  an  in- 
habitant of  the  State  for  twelve  months  immediately  preceding  the 
day  of  any  election,  and  shall  have  ]:)aid  public  taxes,  shall  be  en- 
titled to  vote  for  a  member  of  the  senate  for  the  district  in  which  he 
resides. 

223 


224  INDIANS  OP  NORTH  CAEOLINA. 

Exhibit  14. 

[The  constitution  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina  of  1868,  as  amended.] 
«  *  *  *  *  *  • 

Article  VI. 

SUFFRAGE    AND    ELIGIBILITY   TO    OFFICE. 

Section  1.  Every  male  person  born  in  the  United  States,  and 
every  male  person  who  has  been  naturalized,  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  and  possessing  the  qualifications  set  out  in  this  article,  shall  be 
entitled  to  vote  at  any  election  by  the  people  in  the  State,  except  as 
herein  otherwise  provided. 

Sec.  4.  Every  person  presenting  himself  for  registration  shall  be 
able  to  read  and  write  any  section  of  the  Constitution  in  the  English 
language;  and  before  he  shall  be  entitled  to  vote  he  shall  have  paid 
on  or  before  the  first  day  of  May  of  the  year  in  which  he  proposes  to 
vote,  his  poll  tax  for  the  previous  year,  as  prescribed  by  Article  V, 
section  1,  of  the  Constitution.  But  no  male  person  who  was,  on  Janu- 
ary 1,  1867,  or  at  any  time  prior  thereto,  entitled  to  vote  under  the 
laws  of  any  State  in  the  United  States  wherein  he  then  resided,  and 
no  lineal  descendant  of  any  such  person,  shall  be  denied  the  right  to 
register  and  vote  at  any  election  in  this  State  by  reason  of  his  failure 
to  possess  the  educational  qualifications  herein  prescribed :  Provided, 
He  shall  have  registered  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  this  section 
prior  to  December  1,  1908.  The  general  assembly  shall  provide  for 
the  registration  of  all  persons  entitled  to  vote  without  the  educational 
qualifiications  herein  prescribed,  and  shall,  on  or  before  November  1, 
1908,  provide  for  the  making  of  a  permanent  record  of  such  regis- 
tration, and  all  persons  so  registered  shall  forever  thereafter  have  the 
right  to  vote  in  all  elections  by  the  people  in  this  State,  unless  dis- 
qualified under  section  2  of  this  article:  Provided,  Such  person  shall 
have  paid  his  poll  tax  as  above  required. 


Exhibit  15. 

[Constitution  of  North  Caroliaa,  annotated  by  Connor  and  Cheshire.J 
1.    ALL   MEN    EQUAL. 

1.  Indians  and  free  persons  of  color  hefore  1868. 

The  Cherokee,  Croatan,  and  other  Indians  living  in  North  Caro- 
lina are  citizens  of  the  State  and  amenable  to  the  laws. 

State  V.  Wolf,  145  N.  C,  440;  State  v.  Tachanatah,  64  N.  C,  614. 

Before  the  constitution  of  1868  and  the  thirteenth  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  free  persons  of  color  were 
citizens  of  North  Carolina;  and  this  was  so  even  after  the  right  to 
vote  was  taken  from  such  persons. 

State  V.  Manuel,  20  N.  C,  144  (20),  where  Gaston,  J.,  says: 
"Upon  the  Revolution  no  other  change  took  place  in  the  laws  of 


INDIANS  OP   NORTH   CAEOLINA.  225 

Nortli  Carolina  than  was  consequent  upon  the  transition  from  a 
colony,  dependent  on  a  European  King,  to  a  free  and  sovereign 
State.  Slaves  remained  slaves.  British  subjects  in  North  Caro- 
lina became  North  Carolina  free  men.  Foreigners  until  made  mem- 
bers of  the  State  continued  aliens.  Slaves  manumitted  here  became 
free  men  and,  therefore,  if  born  within  North  Carolina,  are  citizens 
of  North  Carolina — and  all  free  persons  born  withia  the  State 
are  born  citizens  of  the  State."  (This  case  was  cited  with  approval 
by  Mr.  Justice  Curtis  in  his  dissenting  opinion  in  the  Dred  Scott 
case,  60  U.  S.  (19  Howard)  573.— Editors.) 

(State  V.  Manuel,  supra,  was  subsequent  to  the  convention  of  1835, 
which  deprived  free  negroes  of  their  right  to  vote.  For  an  interest^ 
ing  debate  upon  the  origin,  basis,  and  history  of  their  right  to  vote, 
see  "Debates  in  convention,  1835,"  pp.  72,  351. — Editors.) 

2.  Civil  and  political  rights. 

The  constitution  (of  North  Carolina)  was  not  intended  to  enforce 
social  equality,  but  only  civil  and  political  equality. 

State  V.  Hairston,  63  N.  C,  452,  holding  (before  the  adoption  of 
Art.  XLV,  sec.  8)  that  Kev.  Code,  ch.  68,  sec.  7,  declaring  inter- 
marriages between  white  persons  and  persons  of  color  void,  is  not  a 
discrimination  in  favor  of  one  race  against  another,  but  applies 
equally  to  all  races  and  is  valid  and  still  in  force. 


Exhibit  15^. 

[Laws  of  North  Carolina,  1885,  chapter  51.] 
AN  ACT  To  provide  for  separate  schools  for  Croatan  Indians  in  Robeson  County. 

Whereas   the  Indians  now  living  in  Robeson  County  claim  to  be 

descendants  of  a  friendly  tribe  who  once  resided  in  eastern  North 

Carolina  on  the  Roanoke  River,  known  as  the  Croatan  Indians; 
I      therefore. 

The  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  do  enact: 

Section  1.  That  the  said  Indians  and  their  descendants  shall 
hereafter  be  designated  and  known  as  the  Croatan  Indians. 

Sec.  2.  That  said  Indians  and  their  descendants  shall  have  sepa- 
rate schools  for  their  children,  school  committees  of  their  own  race 
and  color,  and  shall  be  allowed  to  select  teachers  of  their  own  choice, 
subject  to  the  same  rules  and  regulations  as  are  applicable  to  all 
teachers  in  the  general  school  law. 

Sec.  3.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  county  board  of  education 
to  see  that  this  act  is  carried  into  effect,  and  shall  for  that  purpose 
have  the  census  of  all  the  children  of  said  Indians  and  their  descend- 
ants between  the  ages  of  six  and  twenty-one  taken,  and  proceed  to 
establish  such  suitable  school  districts  as  shall  be  necessary  for  their 
convenience,  and  take  all  such  other  and  further  steps  as  may  be 
necessary  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  this  act  into  effect  without 
delay. 

Sec.  4.  The  treasurer  and  other  proper  authorities,  whose  duties 
it  is  to  collect,  keep,  and  apportion  the  school  fund,  shall  procure 

75321°— S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 15 


226  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CaBOLINA. 

from  the  county  board  of  education  the  number  of  children  in  said 
county  between  the  ages  of  six  and  twenty-one,  belonging  to  said 
Indian  race,  and  shall  set  apart  and  keep  separate  their  pro  rata 
share  of  said  school  funds,  which  shall  be  paid  out  upon  the  same 
rules  in  every  respect  as  are  provided  in  general  school  law:  Pro- 
vided, That  where  any  children,  descendants  of  Indians  as  aforesaid, 
shall  reside  in  any  district  in  which  there  are  no  schools,  as  provided 
in  this  chapter,  the  same  shall  have  the  right  to  attend  any  of  the 
public  schools  in  said  county  for  their  race,  and  shall  be  allowed  to 
draw  their  share  of  public  school  fund  upon  the  certificate  of  the 
school  committee  in  the  district  in  which  they  reside,  stating  that 
they  have  thus  removed  and  are  entitled  to  attend  public  schools. 

Sec.  5.  The  general  school  law  shall  be  applicable  in  aU  respects 
to  this  chapter,  where  the  same  is  not  repugnant  to  or  inconsistent 
with  this  act.  This  act  shall  only  apply  to  Robeson  County.  All 
laws  and  clauses  of  law  in  conflict  with  this  act  are  hereby  repealed. 

Sec.  6,  That  this  act  shall  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  ratifica- 
tion, 

(In  the  General  Assembly  read  three  times  and  ratified  this  the 
10th  day  of  February,  A.  D.  1885.) 


Exhibit  L6. 

[Laws  of  North  Carolina,  chapter  400.] 

AN  ACT  To  establish  a  normal  school  in  the  county  of  Robeson. 

TTie  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  do  enact: 

Section  1.  That  W.  L.  Moore,  James  Oxendine,  James  Dial,  Pres- 
ton Locklear,  and  others  who  may  be  associated  with  them,  and  their 
successors,  are  hereby  constituted  a  body  politic  and  corporate,  for 
educational  purposes,  in  the  county  of  Robeson,  under  the  name 
and  style  of  the  trustees  of  the  Croatan  Normal  School,  and  by  that 
name  may  have  perpetual  succession,  may  sue  and  be  sued,  plead  and 
be  impleaded,  contract  and  be  contracted  with,  to  have  and  to  hold 
school  property,  including  buildings,  lands,  and  all  appurtenances 
thereto,  situated  in  the  county  of  Robeson,  at  any  place  in  said 
county  to  be  selected  by  the  trustees  herein  named,  provided  such 
place  shall  be  located  between  Bear  Swamp  and  Lumber  River  in 
said  county;  to  acquire  by  purchase,  donation,  or  otherwise,  real  and 
personal  property  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  and  maintaining  a 
school  of  high  grade  for  teachers  of  the  Croatan  race  in  North  Carolina. 

Sec.  2.  That  the  trustees  at  their  organization  shall  elect  one  of 
their  own  number  president  of  the  board  of  trustees,  whose  duties 
shall  be  such  as  develoves  upon  such  officers  in  similar  cases,  or  such 
as  shall  hereafter  be  defined  by  said  trustees. 

Sec.  3.  That  said  trustees  shall  have  full  power  to  rent,  lease,  mort- 
gage or  sell  any  real  or  personal  property  for  the  purpose  of  maintain- 
ing said  school,  discharging  indebtedness,  or  reinvesting  the  proceeds 
for  a  hke  purpose:  Provided,  That  the  liabilities  of  said  trustees  shaU 
affect  only  the  property  owned  by  said  trustees  for  educational  pur- 
poses and  shall  not  affect  the  private  credit  of  said  trustees. 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA.  227 

Sec.  4.  That  the  trustees  whose  names  are  mentioned  in  the  first 
section  of  this  act  shall  have  power  to  select  three  additional  trustees 
from  the  Croatan  race  in  such  manner  as  they  may  determine. 

Sec.  5.  That  said  trustees  shall  have  full  power  and  authority  to 
employ  a  teacher  or  teachers  in  said  normal  school  under  such  regula- 
tions as  the  said  trustees  may  determine. 

Sec.  6.  That  said  board  of  trustees  shall  have  full  power  to  fill  all 
vacancies  by  death,  removal,  or  otherwise  in  said  board:  Provided,  a 
majority  vote  of  all  the  trustees  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice. 

Sec.  7.  That  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  is  hereby  appropriated 
to  the  support  of  said  school  annually  for  two  years,  and  no  longer, 
commencing  with  the  first  day  of  January,  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  eighty-eight,  said  sum  to  be  paid  out  of  the  general  educa- 
tional fund:  Provided,  That  said  sum  thus  appropriated  shall  be  ex- 
pended for  the  payment  of  services  rendered  for  teaching  and  for  no 
other  purpose;  said  sum  to  be  paid  in  semiannual  payments  upon 
warrants  drawn  by  State  superintendent  of  pubhc  instruction  upon 
receipt  by  said  superintendent  of  report  of  trustees  of  said  school 
showing  the  number  of  teachers  employed,  the  amount  paid  to 
teacher,  the  number  of  students  in  attendance  during  the  term  of  six 
months  next  preceding  the  first  day  of  July,  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  eighty-eight,  first  day  of  January,  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  eighty-nine,  first  day  of  July,  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty-nine,  and  first  day  of  January,  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  ninety. 

Sec.  8.  That  all  property,  real  and  personal,  acquired  by  purchase, 
donation,  or  otherwise,  as  long  as  it  is  used  for  educational  purposes, 
shaU  be  exempt  from  taxation,  whether  on  the  part  of  the  State  or 
county. 

Sec.  9.  That  no  person  shall  seU  any  spirituous  liquors  within  two 
miles  of  the  location  of  said  school,  and  any  person  violating  this  sec- 
tion shaU  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  upon  conviction  shaU  be 
fined  not  less  than  ten  dollars  nor  more  than  thirty  dollars,  or  im- 
prisoned not  less  than  ten  days  nor  more  than  thirty -days,  or  both  at 
the  discretion  of  the  court. 

Sec.  10.  Provided,  That  no  person  shall  be  admitted  into  said 
school  as  a  student  who  has  not  attained  the  age  of  fifteen  years ;  and 
that  aU  those  who  shall  enjoy  the  privileges  of  said  school  as  students 
shall  previously  obhgate  (themselves)  to  teach  the  youth  of  the 
Croatan  race  for  a  stated  period. 

Sec.  11.  That  this  act  shall  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  ratifica- 
tion. 

(In  the  General  Assembly  read  three  times,  and  ratified  this  7th 
day  of  March,  A.  D.  1887.) 

Exhibit  L7. 

[Laws  of  Nortli  Carolina,  session  of  1887,  chapter  254.] 
AN  ACT  To  amend  section  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ten  of  the  code. 

The  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  do  enact: 

Section  1.  That  section  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ten  of 
the  Code  of  North  Carohna  be  amended  by  adding  thereto  the  words : 
"That  all  marriages  between  an  Indian  and  a  negro  or  between  ;in 


228  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAKOLINA. 

Indian  and  a  person  of  negro  descent  to  the  third  generation,  inclu- 
sive, shall  be  utterly  void:  Provided,  This  act  shaU  only  apply  to  the 
Croatan  Indians." 

Sec.  2.  This  act  shall  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  ratification. 

(In  the  general  assembly  read  three  times,  and  ratified  this  7th  day 
of  March,  A.  D.  1887.) 


Exhibit  18. 

[Laws  of  North  Carolina,  session  of  1889,  chapter  458.] 

AN  ACT  To  amend  chapter  fifty-seven,  acts  of  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
eighty-five,  in  reference  to  the  schools  of  Croatan  Indians  in  Richmond  County. 

The  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  do  enact: 

Section  1.  That  the  citizens  of  Richmond  County  who  are  Croatan 
Indians,  or  the  descendants  of  such  who  are  known  as  such,  or  who 
have  a  distinct  race  identity  as  such,  shall  be  entitled  to  the  same 
school  privileges  and  benefits  as  are  granted  to  other  Croatan  Indians 
in  Robeson  County  under  the  provisions  of  said  act  of  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  eighty-five,  chapter  fifty-one,  and  the  act  or  acts 
subsequent  to  and  amendatory  of  the  act  of  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  eighty-five. 

Sec.  2.  That  this  act  shall  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  ratification. 

(Ratified  the  11th  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1889.) 


Exhibit  19. 

[Laws  of  North  Carolina,  session  of  1889,  chapter  60.] 

AN  ACT  To  amend  the  laws  of  1885  and  1887  so  as  to  provide  additional  educational 
facilities  for  the  Croatan  Indians,  citizens  of  Robeson  County,  North  Carolina. 

The  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  do  enact: 

Section  1.  That  Chapter  Fifty-one,  section  two,  of  the  Laws  of 
One  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-five  be  amended  by  adding 
after  the  word  "law"  in  the  last  line  of  said  section  the  words,  "and 
there  shall  be  excluded  from  such  separate  schools  for  the  said 
Croatan  Indians  all  children  of  the  negro  race  to  the  fourth  generation." 

Sec.  2.  That  section  seven.  Chapter  Four  hundred,  of  the  Laws  of 
One  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-seven  be  amended  as  follows : 
Strike  out  in  lines  two  and  three  the  words,  "for  two  years  and  no 
longer;"  strike  out  in  line  fifteen  all  after  the  words  "eighty-eight," 
and  insert  "and  every  six  months  thereafter." 

Sec.  3.  That  section  ten  of  said  Chapter  Four  hundred,  Laws  of 
One  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-seven,  be  amended  by 
striking  out  in  line  three  the  word  "fifteen"  and  inserting  the  word 
"ten"  in  lieu  thereof. 

Sec.  4.  This  act  shall  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  ratification. 

(Ratified  the  2d  day  of  February,  A.  D.  1889.) 


INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAEOLINA.  229 

Exhibit  LIO. 

[Public  laws  of  North  Carolina,  session  of  1897,  chapter  536.] 
AN  ACT  In  relation  to  the  Croatan  Normal  School  in  Kobeson  County. 

The  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  do  enact: 

Section  1.  That  there  shall  be  placed  to  the  credit  of  the  Croatan 
Normal  School  of  Robeson  County  out  of  the  general  educational 
fund  in  the  hands  of  the  State  treasurer,  the  sum  of  two  hundred  and 
eighty-one  25.100  dollars,  being  the  unexpended  appropriation  for 
the  year  1895;  and  the  treasurer  is  hereby  authorized  to  pay  Prof. 
P.  B.  Hiden,  upon  the  approval  of  his  claim  by  the  board  of  trustees 
and  the  commissioners  of  Robeson  County,  out  of  the  above  $281  & 
25/100,  the  sum  of  forty  ($40)  dollars  for  services  heretofore  rendered 
in  1896. 

Sec.  2.  This  act  shall  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  ratification. 

(Ratified  the  9th  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1897.) 


Exhibit  Lll. 
[Public  laws  of  North  Carolina,  session  of  1911,  chapter  168.] 

AN  ACT  To  empower  the  trustees  of  the  Indian  School  of  Robeson  County  to  transfer 
title  to  property  of  said  school  by  deed  to  State  board  of  education,  ancl  to  provide 
for  the  appointment  of  trustees  for  said  school. 

The  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  do  enact: 

Section  1.  That  in  accordance  with  the  recent  action  of  the 
trustees,  in  meeting  assembled,  of  the  Croatan  State  normal  school, 
known  as  the  Indian  Normal  School  of  Robeson  County,  situated 
near  Pembroke,  North  Carolina,  said  school  being  incorporated  under 
Chapter  Four  hundred,  Public  Laws  of  One  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty-seven,  which  action  of  the  trustees  of  said  school  has  been 
duly  certified  to  by  the  president,  C.  R.  Sampson,  and  the  secretary, 
A.  A.  Locklear,  the  said  trustees  are  hereby  empowered  to  convey  by 
deed  to  the  State  board  of  education  the  title  to  all  property  of  said 
school,  and  the  State  board  of  education  is  hereby  authorized  to 
accept  same. 

Sec.  2.  That  the  State  board  of  education  shall  appoint  seven 
members  of  the  Indian  race,  formally  known  as  Croatans,  to  be  con- 
stituted the  board  of  trustees  of  said  school,  as  foUows:  Two  members 
for  the  term  of  two  years,  two  for  the  term  of  four  years,  and  three 
for  the  term  of  six  years;  and,  at  the  expiration  of  these  terms,  their 
successors  shall  be  appointed  by  the  State  board  of  education  for  a 
term  of  six  years. 

Sec.  3.  That  the  board  of  trustees  of  said  Indian  normal  school 
Robeson  County  shall  have  the  power  to  employ  and  discharge 
teachers,  to  prevent  negroes  from  attending  said  school,  and  to  exer- 
cise the  usual  functions  of  control  and  management  of  said  school, 
their  action  being  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  State  board  of 
education. 

Sec.  4.  That  all  laws  and  clauses  of  laws  in  conflict  with  this  act  are 
hereby  repealed. 

Sec.  5.  This  act  shall  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  ratification. 

(Ratified  this  the  8th  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1911.) 


230  INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Exhibit  LI  2. 

[Public  Laws  of  North  Carolina,  Session  of  1911,  Chapter  215.] 

AN  ACT  To  change  the  name  of  the  Indians  in  Robeson  County  and  to  provide  for 
said  Indians  separate  apartments  in  the  State  hospital. 

The  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  do  enact: 

Section  1.  That  Chapter  Fifty-one  of  the  Pubhc  Laws  of  North 
CaroHna,  session  of  eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-five,  be,  and  the  same 
is  hereby,  amended  by  striking  out  the  words  "Croatan  Indians" 
wherever  the  same  occur  in  said  chapter  and  inserting  in  lieu  thereof 
the  words  "Indians  of  Robeson  County." 

Sec.  2.  That  in  all  laws  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of 
North  Carolina  relating  to  said  Indians  subsequent  to  the  enactment 
of  said  Chapter  Fifty-one  of  the  Laws  of  Eighteen  hundred  and 
eighty-five,  the  words  "Croatan  Indians"  be,  and  the  same  are 
hereby,  stricken  out  and  the  words  "Indians  of  Robeson  County" 
inserted  in  heu  thereof. 

Sec.  3.  And  that  the  said  Indians  residing  in  Robeson  and  adjoin- 
ing counties  which  have  heretofore  been  known  as  Croatan  Indians, 
together  with  their  descendants,  shall  hereafter  be  known  and  desig- 
nated as  "Indians  of  Robeson  County,"  and  by  that  name  shall  be 
entitled  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  conferred  by  any  of  the  laws 
of  North  Carolina  upon  the  Indians  heretofore  known  as  Croatan 
Indians, 

Sec.  4.  That  the  school  situated  near  the  town  of  Pembroke,  in 
Robeson  County,  known  as  Croatan  Indian  Normal  School,  shall 
hereafter  be  known  and  designated  as  "The  Indian  Normal  School  of 
Robeson  County,"  and  in  that  name  shall  be  entitled  to  all  of  the 

Srivileges  and  powers  heretofore  conferred  by  any  law  of  the  State  of 
forth  Carolina  or  any  laws  hereafter  enacted  for  the  benefit  of  said 
school. 

Sec.  5.  That  the  board  of  directors  for  the  State  Hospital  for  the 
Insane  at  Raleigh  are  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  provide 
and  set  apart  at  said  hospital,  as  soon  after  the  passage  of  this  act  as 
practicable,  suitable  apartments  and  wards  for  the  accommodation 
of  any  of  said  Indians  of  Robeson  County  who  may  be  entitled  under 
the  laws  relating  to  insane  persons  to  be  admitted  to  said  hospital. 

Sec.  6.  That  the  sheriff,  jailer,  or  other  proper  authorities  of 
Robeson  County  shall  provide  in  the  common  jail  of  Robeson  County 
and  in  the  Home  for  the  Aged  and  Infirm  of  Robeson  County  separate 
cells,  wards,  or  apartments  for  the  said  Indians  of  Robeson  County, 
in  all  cases  where  it  shaU  be  necessary  under  the  laws  of  this  State  to 
commit  any  of  said  Indians  to  said  jail  or  County  Home  for  the  Aged 
and  Infirm. 

Sec.  7.  That  all  laws  and  clauses  of  laws  in  conflict  with  this  act  are 
hereby  repealed. 

Sec.  8.  That  this  act  shaU  be  m  force  from  and  after  its  ratification. 

(Ratified  this  8th  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1911.) 


IlilDIAN^S   OF   NOETH   CAROLINA.  ~  231 

Exhibit  113. 

[Public  Laws  of  North  Carolina,  Session  of  1913,  Chapter  123.] 

AN  ACT  To  restore  to  the  Indians  residing  in  Robeson  and  adjoining  counties  their 
rightful  and  ancient  name. 

TJie  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  do  enact: 

Section  1.  That  Chapter  Two  hundred  and  fifteen  of  the  Public 
Laws  of  North  Carohna,  session  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
eleven,  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby,  amended  by  striking  out  in  the 
last  line  of  said  section  one  the  words  "Indians  of  Robeson  County," 
and  inserting  in  heu  thereof  the  words  "Cherokee  Indians  of  Robeson 
County." 

Sec.  2.  That  section  two  of  said  Chapter  Two  hundred  and  fifteen 
of  the  Public  Laws  of  North  Carolina,  session  one  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  eleven,  be,  and  the  same  is  herebj^,  amended  by  striking 
out  the  words  "Indians  of  Robeson  County,"  in  the  fifth  line  of  said 
section  two,  and  inserting  in  Ueu  thereof  the  words  "Cherokee 
Indians  of  Robeson  County," 

Sec.  3.  That  said  Chapter  Two  hundred  and  fifteen  of  the  Pubhc 
Laws  of  North  Carolina,  session  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
eleven,  be  further  amended  by  striking  out  the  words  "Indians  of 
Robeson  County,"  in  line  four  of  said  section  three,  and  inserting  in 
lieu  thereof  the  words  "Cherokee  Indians  of  Robeson  County." 

Sec.  4.  That  the  Indians  residing  in  Robeson  and  adjoining 
counties  who  have  heretofore  been  known  as  "Croatan  Indians"  or 
"Indians  of  Robeson  County,"  together  with  their  descendants,  shall 
hereafter  be  known  and  desigpated  as  "Cherokee  Indians  of  Robeson 
County,"  and  by  that  name  shaU  be  entitled  to  aU  the  rights  and 
privileges  heretofore  or  hereafter  conferred  by  any  law  or  laws  of  the 
State  of  North  Carolina  upon  the  Indians  heretofore  known  as  the 
"Croatan  Indians"  or  "Indians  of  Robeson  County,"  including  all 
such  rights  and  privileges  as  have  been  conferred  upon  said  Indians 
by  Chapter  Two  hundred  and  fifteen  of  the  PubUc  Laws  of  North 
Carohna,  session  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eleven. 

Sec.  5.  Neither  this  act  nor  any  other  act  relating  to  said  "Cher- 
okee Indians  of  Robeson  County"  shall  be  construed  so  as  to  impose 
on  said  Indians  any  powers,  privileges,  rights,  or  immunities  or  any 
limitations  on  their  power  to  contract,  heretofore  enacted  with  refer- 
ence to  the  Eastern  Band  of  Cherokee  Indians  residing  in  Cherokee, 
Graham,  Swain,  Jackson,  and  other  adjoining  counties  in  North 
Carolina,  or  any  other  band  or  tribe  of  Cherokee  Indians  other  than 
those  now  residing,  or  who  have,  since  the  Revolutionary  War, 
resided  in  Robeson  County,  nor  shall  said  "Cherokee  Indians  of 
Robeson  County,"  as  herein  designated  be  subject  to  the  limitations 
provided  in  section  nine  hundred  and  seventy-five  and  nine  hundred 
and  seventy-six  of  the  revisal  of  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  five 
of  North  Carohna. 

Sec.  6.  That  Chapter  Two  hundred  and  fifteen  of  the  Pubhc  Laws 
of  North  Carolina,  session  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eleven,  be 
further  amended  by  striking  out  the  words  "Indian  Normal  School  of 
Robeson  County,"  in  the  third  and  fourth  fines  of  said  section  four 
of  said  Chapter  Two  hundred  and  fifteen,  and  inserting  in  lieu  thereof 
the  words  "Cherokee  Indian  Normal  School  of  Robeson  County." 


232  INDIANS   OF    NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Sec.  7.  That  all  laws  and  clauses  of  laws  in  conflict  with  the  pro- 
visions of  this  act  are  hereby  repealed. 

Sec.  8.  That  this  act  shall  be  in  force  and  effect  from  and  after  its 
ratification. 

(In  the  general  assembly  read  three  times  and  ratified  this  the  11th 
day  of  March,  1913.) 

Exhibit  114. 

[Public  Laws  of  North  Carolina,  Session  of  1913,  Chapter  199.] 

AN  ACT  To  provide  for  the  maintenance  and  support  of  the  Indian  Normal  School  of 

Robeson  County. 

The  General  Asserribly  of  North  Carolina  do  enact: 

Section  1.  That  in  addition  to  the  sum  of  two  thousand  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  ($2,250)  appropriated  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  North  Carolina,  session  of  nmeteen  hundred  and  thirteen, 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  Indian  Normal  School  of  Robeson  County, 
the  further  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  is  hereby  annually  appropriated 
for  the  years  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirteen  and  one  thou- 
sand nine  hundred  and  fourteen  for  the  support  and  maintenance  of 
said  school. 

Sec.  2.  That  the  appropriation  herein  made  shall  be  drawn  out  by 
the  auditor  upon  his  warrant,  and  thereupon  shall  be  charged  by  the 
State  treasurer  to  the  account  of  said  school. 

Sec.  3.  That  this  act  shall  be  in  force  from  and  after  its  ratification. 

(In  general  assembly  read  three  times  and  ratified  this  the  12th 
day  of  March,  1913.) 


EXHIBIT  M. 

CORRESPONDENCE  RELATIVE  TO  THE  INVESTIGATION  OP  THE 
CONDITION,  TRIBAL  RIGHTS,  ETC.,  OP  THE  INDIANS  OF  ROBESON 
COUNTY,  N.  C. 

July  23,  1914. 
Mr.  O.  M.  McPherson=,  Special  Agent. 

My  Dear  Mr.  McPherson:  Upon  the  receipt  of  these  instructions, 
or  as  soon  thereafter  as  practicable,  you  will  proceed  to  North  Caro- 
lina for  the  purpose  of  investigating  the  affairs  of  the  Croatan  Indians 
of  Robeson  and  adjoining  counties  of  that  State,  as  provided  for  by 
Senate  resolution  410. 

This  resolution  reads: 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  be,  and  he  hereby  is,  directed  to  cause 
an  investigation  to  be  made  of  the  condition  and  tribal  rights  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson 
and  adjoining  counties  of  North  Carolina,  recently  declared  by  the  Legislature  of 
North  Carolina  to  be  Cherokees,  and  formerly  known  as  Croatans,  and  report  to  Con- 
gress what  tribal  rights,  if  any,  they  have  with  any  band  or  tribe;  whether  they  are 
entitled  to  or  have  received  any  lands,  or  whether  there  are  any  moneys  due  them, 
their  present  condition,  their  educational  facilities,  and  such  other  facts  as  woidd 
enable  Congress  to  determine  whether  the  Government  would  be  warranted  in  mak- 
ing suitable  provision  for  their  support  and  education. 

Extreme  care  should  be  exercised  by  you  in  obtaining  all  pertinent 
facts  relative  to  the  condition  and  tribal  rights  of  these  Indians,  in 
order  that  this  office  may  be  prepared  to  submit  to  the  next  Congress, 
through  the  department,  full  information  responsive  to  said  reso- 
lution. 

Very  truly,  yours, 

Cato  Sells, 
Commissioner. 


Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 

WasTiington,  July  24,  1914. 
The  Auditor  of  North  Carolina, 

Raleigh,  N.  C. 

Sm:  The  United  States  Senate,  on  June  30,  1914,  passed  a  reso- 
lution (S.  Res.  410)  directing  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  cause 
an  investigation  to  be  made  of  the  condition  and  tribal  rights,  edu- 
cational facilities,  etc.,  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson  and  adjoining 
counties  in  North  Carolina,  commonly  known  as  Croatans,  and  to 
make  a  report  to  Congress  respecting  their  rights,  etc. 

I  have  been  detailed  to  make  the  investigation  called  for  by  said 
Senate  resolution. 

I  will  thank  you  very  much  to  send  me,  to  Lumberton,  N.  C,  at 
your  earliest  convenience,  such  facts  and  information  from  the  files 
and_  records  of  your  office,  or  from  other  sources,  respecting  the  said 
Indians  as  are  available. 

233 


234 


INDIANS   OP    NORTH   CAROLINA. 


I  especially  desire  to  learn  the  number  of  these  Indians  by  counties, 
the  number  paying  taxes  in  each  county,  the  amount  of  personal 
taxes,  amount  of  real-estate  taxes,  and  other  facts  relating  to  their 
history  or  rights  as  may  be  shown  by  the  records  of  your  office  or 
as  are  available  from  other  sources.  I  will  be  pleased  to  receive 
any  information  concerning  them  which  would  enable  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior  better  to  comply  with  the  terms  of  said  Senate  reso- 
lution.    An  early  response  wul  be  appreciated. 

I  inclose  a  self-addressed  envelope  for  reply,  which  will  not  require 
postage. 

Very  respectfully, 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 


Department  of  the  State  Auditor, 

Raleigh,  N.  0.,  July  28,1914. 
Mr.  O.  M.  McPherson, 

Special  Indian  Agent,  Lumberton,  N.  G. 
Dear  Sir:  Answering  your  letter  of  July  24,  which  you  handed 
me  this  date,  I  give  you  the  following  information,  taken  from  the 
records  of  this  department: 


ROBESON  COUNTY. 

Numtier  Indian  polls 

Value  property  listed  for  taxation 

SCOTLAND  COUNTY. 

Number  Indian  polls 

V^ue  property  listed  for  taxation 

HOKE  COtJNTY. 

Number  of  Indian  polls 

Value  property  listed  for  taxation 


1913 


1,010 
$506,094 


44 
$5,689 


28 
$4,463 


The  records  on  file  in  this  department  from  Cumberland,  Bladen, 
and  Columbus  Counties  do  not  show  any  Indian  polls. 
Yours,  truly, 

W.  P.  Wood,  State  Auditor. 

By  Baxter  Durham,  Tax  Clerk. 


Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 

WasTiington,  July  24,  1914- 
The  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 

OF  North  Carolina, 

Raleiglh,  N.  C. 
Sir:  The  United  States  Senate,  on  June  30,  1914,  passed  a  resolu- 
tion (S.  Res.  410)  directing  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  cause  an 
investigation  to  be  made  of  the  condition  and  tribal  rights,  educa- 
tional facilities,  etc.,  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson  and  adjoining  counties 


INDIANS   OF   NOKTH   CAROLINA.  235 

in  North  Carolina,  commonly  known  as  Croatans,  and  to  make  a 
report  to  Congress  respecting  their  rights,  etc. 

I  have  been  detailed  to  make  the  investigation  called  for  by  said 
Senate  resolution. 

I  will  thank  you  very  much  to  send  me,  to  Lumberton,  N.  C,  at 
your  earliest  convenience,  such  facts  and  information  from  the  files 
and  records  of  your  office,  or  from  other  sources,  respecting  the  said 
Indians  as  are  available. 

I  especially  desire  to  be  advised  of  the  number  of  said  Indians,  their 
location  as  to  counties,  the  number  of  school  age,  the  number  and 
character  of  established  schools,  the  number  attending  school  in  each 
county,  together  with  the  provision  that  the  State  of  North  Carolina 
has  made  for  the  education  of  said  Indians;  in  short,  I  desire  to  obtain 
full  information  respecting  the  educational  facilities  provided  the 
Croatans.     An  early  response  will  be  appreciated. 

I  inclose  to  you  for  reply  a  self-addressed  envelope  which  will 
require  no  postage. 

Very  respectfully, 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 

Office  of  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction, 

State  of  North  Carolina, 

Raleigh,  August  3,  191  j^. 
Mr.  O.  M.  McPherson, 

Lurriberton,  N.  C. 
Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  of  July  24  to  the  superintendent  of  public 
instruction  of  North  Carolina  was  referred  to  me  for  reply.  We  have 
no  statistics  on  the  Croatan  Indians  other  than  the  school  population 
for  Kobeson  County.  Mr.  Joyner's  report  for  1911-12  shows  that 
there  were  2,183  Croatans  of  school  age — 6  to  21  years — in  Robeson 
County;  1,159  enroUed  in  the  public  schools,  with  an  average  daily 
attendance  of  602.  In  addition  to  this  we  enroUed  in  the  Indian 
Normal  School  at  Pembroke  134  pupils,  with  an  average  attendance 
of  105. 

In  sections  4236  to  4242,  inclusive,  you  will  find  the  law  establish- 
ing this  normal  school.  The  sections  referred  to  are  in  volume  2  of  the 
revisal  of  1905  of  North  Carolina.  You  will  find  the  amendment  in 
the  laws  of  1907,  1911,  1913.  Section  4086  of  the  revisal  provides 
for  separate  schools  for  the  descendants  of  the  Croatan  Indians  now 
living  in  Robeson  and  Richmond  Counties.  Sections  4168-4171, 
inclusive,  indicate  the  manner  in  which  this  law  is  to  be  carried  out. 
You  will  see  in  the  matter  of  education  in  the  elementary  schools 
these  Indians  are  put  on  the  same  footing  as  the  other  races. 
Very  truly,  yours, 

E.  E.  Sams, 
Supervisor  Teacher  Training. 


Washington,  D.  C,  July  24,  1914. 
Mr.  James  E.  Henderson, 

Superintendent  of  Indian  School,  CheroTcee,  N.  C. 
Sir:  The  United  States  Senate  on  June  30, 1914,  passed  a  resolution 
(S.  Res.  410)  directing  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  cause  an  inves- 


236  INDIANS   OP   NORTH    CAROLINA. 

tigation  to  be  made  of  the  condition  and  tribal  rights  of  the  Indians 
of  Bobeson  and  adjoining  counties  in  North  CaroHna,  commonly 
known  as  Croatans,  and  to  make  a  report  to  Congress  respecting  their 
condition,  rights,  etc. 

Said  resolution  is  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  be,  and  he  hereby  is,  directed  to  cause 
an  investigation  to  be  made  of  the  condition  and  tribal  rights  of  the  Indians  of  Robe- 
son and  adjoining  counties  of  North  Carolina,  recently  declared  by  the  Legislature 
of  North  Carolina,  to  be  Cherokees,  and  formerly  known  as  Croatans,  and  report  to 
Congress  what  tribal  rights,  if  any,  they  have  with  any  band  or  tribe;  whether  they 
are  entitled  to  or  have  received  any  lands,  or  whether  there  are  any  moneys  due 
them,  their  present  condition,  their  educational  facilities,  and  such  other  facts  as 
would  enable  Congress  to  determine  whether  the  Government  would  be  warranted 
in  making  suitable  provision  for  their  support  and  education. 

Special  Agent  O.  M.  McPherson  has  been  detailed  to  make  the  inves- 
tigation called  for  by  said  Senate  resolution. 

You  are  requested  to  communicate  with  the  special  agent  at 
Lumberton,  N.  C,  giving  him  all  the  information  shown  by  the  files 
of  your  agency,  and  such  other  information  as  you  can  obtain  from 
other  sources,  concerning  the  subject  matter  of  said  resolution. 
Please  make  this  matter  special,  and  furnish  Special  Agent  McPherson 
with  the  information  at  the  earliest  practicable  date. 
Very  respectfully, 

E.  B.  Meritt, 
Assistant  Commissioner. 


Cherokee,  N.  C,  July  28,  1914. 

Mr.  O.  M.  McPherson, 

Special  Indian  Agent,  Lumberton,  N.  C. 

My  Dear  Mr.  McPherson:  I  am  in  receipt  of  a  letter  from  the 
Indian  office  saying  that  you  had  been  put  in  charge  of  certain  inves- 
tigations among  the  Croatan  Indians  of  Bobeson  and  adjoining 
counties  of  North  Carohna  and  directing  me  to  furnish  you  with  afl 
the  information  available  at  this  place  to  aid  you  in  the  work. 

Since  the  Croatans  and  the  Cherokees  have  never  been  connected 
either  ofiicially  or  socially  the  Cherokees  refusing  to  recognize  the 
Croatans  there  is  very  little  in  our  files  that  will  be  of  service  to  you 
in  the  work.  During  my  time  here  I  have  seen  only  a  very  few 
letters  with  reference  to  the  Croatans,  and  I  beheve  that  they  were 
copies  of  letters  from  former  Supt.  Kyselka  to  the  department  telhng 
the  department  that  the  Croatans  were  trying  to  get  an  act  through 
the  North  Carolina  Legislature  making  them  Cherokees.  If  you  so 
desire  I  will  hunt  up  all  of  the  correspondence  with  reference  to  the 
matter  and  will  send  you  either  the  originals  or  the  copies  as  you 
may  desire. 

I  have  always  been  interested  in  Croatan  affairs,  yet  I  think  they 
have  nothing  in  common  with  our  Cherokees. 

In  connection  with  your  work  you  had  better  come  to  Cherokee 
and  get  some  of  our  cold  water  and  fine  air.  It  must  be  rather  warm 
down  there  just  now. 

Assuring  you  of  all  of  the  aid  I  am  possible  to  give  in  your  new 
undertaking,  I  am. 

Very  respectfully, 

James  E.  Henderson, 

Superintendent. 


INDIANS   OF   NOETH   CAKOLIITA.  237 

LuMBERTON,  N.  C,  July  30,  1914. 
James  E.  Henderson,  Esq., 

Superintendent  Cherokee  School,  Cherokee,  N.  C. 
My  Dear  Mr.  Henderson:  I  have  received  your  letter  of  July  28, 
referring  to  a  recent  Indian  office  letter  directing  you  to  furnish  me, 
in  connection  with  the  investigation  I  am  making  of  the  condition 
and  tribal  rights,  etc.,  of  the  Indians  of  Kobeson  and  adjoining 
counties  of  North  CaroUna,  as  authorized  by  Senate  Resolution  410, 
all  the  information  in  your  files  relating  to  the  proposed  investigation. 
You  refer  to  certain  correspondence  had  by  your  predecessor,  Supt. 
Kyselka,  with  the  Indian  office,  concerning  the  Croatan  Indians. 

I  will  thank  you  very  much  to  send  me  copies  of  all  correspondence 
in  your  files  relating  in  any  way  to  the  so-called  Croatan  Indians; 
I  think  it  proper  that  the  originals  should  remain  on  file  in  your  office. 
Please  send  me  also  copies  of  all  papers,  printed  matter,  etc.,  at 
your  command  which  would  be  of  value  to  me  in  said  investigation. 
An  early  response  will  be  appreciated. 

Would,  indeed,  be  glad  to  have  some  of  your  pure  water  and  fine 
air,  though  the  weather  just  now  is  very  comfortable. 
Very  respectfully, 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 

Cherokee,  N.  C,  August  5,  1914-. 
Mr.  O.  M.  McPherson, 

Special  Indian  Agent,  Lumherton,  N.  C. 
My  Dear  Mr.  McPherson:  Answering  yours  of  July  30,  I  will  say 
that  we  have  been  looking  through  the  files  in  this  office  for  papers 
that  you  might  be  able  to  use,  but  am  sorry  to  say  that  to  this  time 
we  have  been  unable  to  find  anything.  I  remember  to  have  seen  a 
letter  from  Mr.  Kyselka  to  the  department  with  reference  to  the 
matter  since  I  have  been  here.  I  will  keep  up  the  search  and  will 
forward  to  you  anything  I  am  able  to  find.  Since  the  Cherokees  have 
had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  Robeson  County  Indians,  I  fear 
that  we  will  be  able  to  find  very  little  that  will  throw  light  on  the 
subject. 

I  trust  that  you  can  make  it  convenient  to  come  to  Cherokee  before 
you  leave  Lumherton.     I  have  always  had  a  desire  to  go  to  that 
locality  and  hope  that  I  can  pay  you  a  visit  before  you  leave  there. 
With  the  kindest  regards,  I  am,  very  respectfully, 

James  E.  Henderson, 

Superintendent. 

Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Washington,  July  24,  1914. 
The  Superintendent  of  Schools  of  Columbus  County, 

Whiteville,  N.  C. 
Sir:  The  United  States  Senate,  on  June  30,  1914,  passed  a  resolu- 
tion (S.  Res.  410)  directing  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  cause  an 
investigation  to  be  made  of  the  conditions  and  tribal  rights,  educa- 
tional facilities,  etc.,  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson  and  adjoining  coun- 


238  INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

ties  in  North  Carolina,  commonly  known  as  Croatans,  and  to  make  a 
report  to  Congress  respecting  their  rights,  etc. 

I  have  been  detailed  to  make  the  investigation  called  for  by  said 
Senate  resolution. 

I  will  thank  you  very  much  to  send  me,  to  Lumberton,  N.  C,  at 
your  earliest  convenience,  such  facts  and  information  from  the  files 
and  records  of  Colimibus  County  ofiice  as  are  available  respecting  the 
number  of  Croatan  Indians,  if  any,  in  your  county;  the  number  of 
families;  the  number  of  children  of  school  age;  number  attending 
school;  school  facilities  provided  by  the  State  and  county  for  said 
Indians;  the  kind  and  value  of  their  property  in  the  county  and 
amount  of  taxes  paid  by  them;  also  any  other  information  respecting 
said  Indians  which  would  enable  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  better 
to  comply  with  the  terms  of  said  Senate  resolution.  An  early 
response  will  be  appreciated. 

I  inclose  a  self-addressed  envelope  for  reply,  which  will  not  require 
postage. 

KespectfuUy, 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 


Chadbourn,  N.  C,  July  28,  1914. 
Mr.  O.  M.  McPherson, 

Lumlerton,  N.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  So  far  as  I  can  learn  our  files  show  no  record  of  any 
Indians  residing  in  Columbus  County.  There  are  a  few  scattering 
ones  who  have  come  down  from  Robeson,  but  this  number  is  so  smafl 
that  noprovision  has  been  made  for  them  in  our  schools. 

Mr.  K.  B.  Council,  of  Wananish,  N.  C,  knows  more  about  those 
who  call  themselves  Indians  in  our  county  than  anyone  else.  He 
has  made  a  special  study  of  their  history  and  could  give  you  some 
valuable  information  concerning  them.  We  have  a  few  in  our  county 
who  claim  to  be  Indians  but  who  have  always  been  recognized  as 
colored  people.  Some  of  these  are  petitioning  us  to  recognize  them 
as  Indians,  but  because  of  the  lack  of  knowledge  of  their  ancestors 
we  have  not  yet  been  able  to  grant  their  request.  I  seriously  doubt 
whether  or  not  we  have  any  pure-blooded  Indians  in  the  county 
except  a  few  scattering  from  Robeson. 
Yours,  truly, 

F.   T.    WOOTEN, 

County  Swperintendent. 


Lumberton,  N.  C,  July  29,  1914- 
Mr.  K.  B.  Council, 

Wananish. 
Dear  Sir:  The  United  States  Senate  on  June  30,  1914,  passed  a 
resolution  (S.  Res.  410)  directing  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  cause 
an  investigation  to  be  made  of  the  condition  and  tribal  rights,  educa- 
tional facilities,  etc.,  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson  and  adjoining  coun- 
ties of  North  Carolina,  and  to  make  a  report  to  Congress  respecting 
their  tribal  rights,  etc. 


INDIANS   OF    NOETH   CAROLINA.  239 

I  have  been  detailed  to  make  the  mvestigation  called  for  by  said 
Senate  resolution. 

Mr.  F.  T.  Wooten,  superintendent  of  schools  of  Columbus  County, 
has  advised  me  that  you  are  well  informed  concerning  the  history  and 
condition  of  the  Croatan  Indians,  and  could  probably  give  me  some 
valuable  information  concerning  them. 

I  will  thank  you  very  much  to  give  me  at  your  earhest  convenience 
a  very  full  statement  relating  to  the  history  and  condition  of  said 
Indians.     An  early  reply  will  be  appreciated. 
Very  respectfully, 

O.  M.  McPheeson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 


LuMBERTON,  N.  C,  July  29,  1914- 
Hon.  Cato  Sells, 

Commissioner  Indian  Affairs,  Washington,  D.  G. 
My  Dear  Mr.  Sells:  Referring  to  my  instructions  of  July  23,  1914, 
to  proceed  to  North  Carolina  and  to  investigate  the  condition,  etc., 
of  the  Indians  of  Robeson  County,  and  adjoining  counties  in  North 
Carolina,  as  directed  by  Senate  resolution  No.  410,  dated  Jime  30, 
1914,  I  beg  to  invite  your  attention  to  that  part  of  the  resolution 
reading : 

*  *  *  and  report  to  Congress  what  tribal  rights,  if  any,  they  have  with  any 
band  or  tribe;  whether  they  are  entitled  to  or  have  receivea  any  lands,  or  whether 
there  are  any  moneys  due  them    *    *    * 

These  are  matters  which  an  investigation  in  the  field  can  not  read- 
ily develop,  and  I  will  thank  you  very  much  to  advise  me  at  your  ear- 
liest convenience  what  the  files,  records,  and  papers  of  the  Indian 
office  show  on  these  subjects. 
An  early  reply  will  be  very  much  appreciated. 
Very  respectfully, 

0.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 

Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Washington,  August  4,  1914- 
Mr.  O.  M.  McPherson, 

Special  Iridian  Agent,  Lumberton,  N.  C. 
My  Dear  Mr.  McPherson:  The  office  is  in  receipt  of  your  letter 
of  July  29,  1914,  regarding  the  tribal  rights,  etc.,  of  Indians  of  Robe- 
son and  adjoining  counties  of  North  Carolina,  otherwise  known  as 
Croatans. 

The  main  file  relative  to  these  Indians  is  now  in  your  possession, 
and,  ii  is  beUeved,  contains  aU  the  information  now  available.  It 
further  appears  that  you  consulted  the  records  of  the  "old  files"  rela- 
tive to  the  Croatans  before  your  departure  from  this  city. 

For  your  further  information,  however,  there  is  inclosed  a  copy  of 
a  report  of  June  6,  1914,  to  the  Congress  on  Senate  resolution  344. 
Very  truly  yours, 

C.  F.  Hauke, 
Second  Assistant  Commissioner. 


240  indians  of  north  carolina. 

Department  of  the  Interior, 

Washington,  June  6,  1814' 
Hon.  Henry  F.  Ashurst, 

Chairman  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs, 

United  States  Senate. 

My  Dear  Senator:  The  department  is  in  receipt  of  your  letter  of 
April  29,  1914,  transmitting  a  copy  of  Senate  resolution  344,  Sixty- 
tnird  Congress,  second  session,  providing  for  an  investigation  of  the 
present  condition,  educational  facihties,  etc.,  of  alleged  Cherokee 
Indians  in  "Robeson  and  adjoining  counties  of  North  Carolina." 

The  department  has  heretofore  made  reports  to  Congress  on  the 
conditions  of  these  Indians,  based  upon  an  investigation  made  by 
a  supervisor  of  Indian  schools  in  1912  in  connection  with  school  mat- 
ters, and  for  the  information  of  your  committee  there  is  iuclosed  a 
copy  of  his  report  of  March  2,  1912.  That  report  shows  substantially 
as  follows: 

First.  The  Croatan  Indians,  as  these  people  are  called,  number 
about  10,000  people,  of  whom  about  7,000  reside  in  Robeson  County. 
The  ancestry  of  these  Indians  has  been  much  in  doubt  in  the  past, 
but  they  are  now  recognized  as  having  originated  from  the  white  colo- 
nists of  the  lost  colony  of  the  Roanoke  and  the  Indians  from  remnants 
of  several  powerful  southern  tribes. 

Second.  These  Indians  show  several  positively  different  types, 
having  no  Indian  language  and  no  distinctive  customs,  and  being 
unable  to  communicate  with  other  Indians  except  through  the  me- 
dium of  the  English  language. 

Third.  UntU  the  year  1835  the  Croatans  were  allowed  to  vote,  own 
slaves,  build  churches  and  schoolhouses,  and  hve  as  comfortably  as 
their  white  neighbors.  The  right  of  suffrage  was  denied  them  in 
1835,  but  the  Croatans  rebelled  continuously  untU  they  were  again 
recognized  as  citizens  in  1885  and  given  their  right  as  such. 

Fourth.  There  are  but  few  fuU  bloods  among  the  Croatans,  although 
a  large  majority  of  them  seem  to  be  at  least  three-fourths  Indian. 
They  are  classed  as  good  citizens,  are  quite  industrious,  law  abiding, 
and  are  said  to  be  much  interested  in  education. 

Fifth.  The  Croatans  own  28,092  acres  of  good  land,  assessed  at 
present  $334,212,  which  is  considerably  below  its  actual  value. 
Their  personal  property  schedules  $205,205,  and  they  pay  $1,247  in 
poU  taxes.  They  are  considered  good  farmers  and  raise  as  much 
cotton  to  the  acre  as  many  of  the  white  planters.  Some  of  the 
Indians  are  poor,  but  several  of  them  have  very  good  homes,  the 
owners  being  worth  from  $6,000  to  $10,000  each. 

Sixth.  The  State  of  North  Carohna  is  doing  for  the  Croatans  just 
what  the  State  of  New  York  is  doing  for  her  Indians,  giving  them  a 
fair  common  school  education.  There  are  26  Indian  district  schools, 
with  an  enrollment  of  1,094  pupils,  and  in  addition,  the  State  has 
established  a  so-called  normal  scnool  at  Pembroke  for  these  Croatan 
day  schools. 

The  following  is  an  excerpt  from  the  Indian  census  of  North  Caro- 
lina as  of  June  1,  1890: 

A  body  of  people  residing  chiefly  in  Robeson  County,  North  Carolina,  known  as  the 
Croatan  Indians,  are  generally  white,  showing  the  Indian  mostly  in  actions  and  habits. 
They  were  enumerated  by  the  regular  census  enumerator  in  part  as  whites.  They 
are  clannish  and  hold  with  considerable  pride  to  the  traditions  that  they  are  descend- 
ants of  the  Croatans  of  the  Raleigh  period  of  North  Carolina  and  Virginia. 


INDIANS   OF   NOKTH   CAEOLLNA.  241 

Mr.  Hamilton  McMillan,  of  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  in  1888  publislied  a  pam- 
phlet of  27  pages,  the  title  page  of  which  is  as  follows:  "Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  lost  col- 
ony *  *  *  with  the  traditions  of  an  Indian  tribe  in  North  Carolina,  Wilson,  North 
Carolina. "  This  pamphlet  is  to  show  that  Raleigh's  colony  was  carried  off  by  the 
Indians,  and  that  the  Croatan  Indians  of  North  Carolina  are  their  descendants.  Mr. 
McMillan  also,  in  answering  an  inquiry  in  reference  to  the  Croatans,  wrote  the  follow- 
ing to  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs: 

Red  Springs,  N.  C,  July  17,  1890. 

*  *  *  The  Croatan  Tribe  lives  principally  in  Robeson  County,  North  CaroUna, 
though  there  is  quite  a  number  of  them  settled  in  counties  adjoining  in  North  and 
South  Carolina.  In  Sumter  County,  South  Carolina,  there  is  a  branch  of  the  tribe, 
and  also  in  east  Tennessee.  In  Macon  County,  North  Carolina,  there  is  another 
branch,  settled  there  long  ago.  Those  living  in  east  Tennessee  are  called  "Melun- 
geane,"  a  name  also  retained  by  them  here,  which  is  a  corruption  of  "Melange,"  a 
name  given  them  by  early  settlers  (French),  which  means  mixed.  *  *  *  In 
regard  to  their  exodus  from  Roanoke  Island  their  traditions  are  confirmed  by  maps 
recently  discovered  in  Europe  by  Prof.  Alexander  Brown,  member  of  the  Royal 
Historical  Society  of  England.  These  maps  are  dated  in  1608  and  1610,  and  give  the 
reports  of  the  Croatans  to  Raleigh's  ships  which  visited  our  coast  in  those  years. 
*  *  *  The  particulars  of  the  exodus  preserved  by  tradition  here  are  strangely 
and  strongly  corroborated  by  these  maps.  There  can  be  little  doubt  of  the  fact  that 
the  Croatans  in  Robeson  County  and  elsewhere  are  the  descendants  of  the  Croatans 
of  Raleigh's  day. 

From  information  available  at  this  time,  it  does  not  appear  that 
the  Croatans  ever  affiliated  with  or  have  been  recognized  by  the 
Eastern  Cherokee  Indians.  No  money  or  land  is  due  the  Croatans 
from  the  Government.  The  department  will  be  glad  to  make  a 
further  investigation  of  the  affairs  of  these  Indians,  but  a  sufficient 
amount  should  be  appropriated  to  defray  the  expense  thereof.  It 
is  estimated  this  would  require  about  $1,000. 
Cordially,  yours, 

A.  A.  Jones, 
First  Assistant  Secretary. 

LuMBERTON,  N.  C,  July  29,  1914. 
Mr.  Hamilton  McMillan, 

Fayetteville,  N.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  On  June  30,  1914,  the  United  States  Senate  passed  a 
resolution  (S.  Res.  410)  directing  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to 
cause  an  investigation  to  be  made  of  the  condition  and  tribal  rights, 
educational  facilities,  etc.,  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson  and  adjoining 
counties  of  North  Carolina,  and  to  make  a  report  to  Congress  respect- 
ing their  tribal  rights,  etc. 

I  have  been  detailed  to  make  the  investigation  called  for  by  said 
Senate  resolution.  I  have  a  copy  of  your  booklet  entitled  "Sir 
Walter  Raleigh's  Lost  Colony." 

I  would  regard  it  as  a  favor,  in  the  interests  of  the  Indians,  if  you 
would  furnish  me  with  any  information  you  have  concerning  said 
Indians  not  contained  in  your  pamphlet. 

Please  send  me,  also,  any  information  at  your  command  concern- 
ing the  location  of  the  scattered  members  of  the  tribe,  not  residing 
in  Robeson  County,  their  present  condition,  their  present  school 
facilities,  and  what  the  State  of  North  Carolina  is  doing  for  the 
education  of  the  young  members  of  the  tribe. 

An  early  reply  will  be  appreciated. 
Very  respectfully, 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 

75321°— S.  Doc.  677,  63-3 16 


242  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Red  Springs,  N.  C,  August  2,  1914. 
Hon.  O.  M.  McPherson, 

Special  Indian  Agent,  Lumberton,  N.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  Circumstances  beyond  my  control  have  prevented  a 
re;^y  to  your  recent  favor  relative  to  the  Indians  of  Robeson  County. 

Tradition  is  the  Indian's  history.  The  Indians  in  Robeson  are 
known  as  Croatans.  Croatan  is  the  Indian  name  for  an  island  on 
the  eastern  coast  of  North  Carolina,  and  the  early  English  naturally 
called  the  Indians  there  Croatans  from  the  locality  where  they  were 
located,  and  so  they  are  designated  today. '  These  Indians  call  them- 
selves Cherokees.  During  past  30  years  I  have  interviewed  hundreds 
of  them,  and  the  inquiry  as  to  their  origin  was,  without  an  exception, 
in  favor  of  their  being  Cherokees.  They  pointed  to  the  great  roads 
leading  to  the  mountains  in  western  Nortn  Carolina  by  which  their 
ancestors  traveled  to  the  eastern  coast.  These  great  roads  are  the 
Lowrie  Road,  an  ancient  trail  along  the  coast  when  the  ocean 
extended  far  west  of  the  present  coast  line,  and  the  Morganton  Road, 
once  an  Indian  trail  but  in  past  century  improved  by  United  States 
Government  and  made  straight.  There  was  another  great  trail  now 
known  as  the  Yadkin  Road,  these  roads  converging  near  the  present 
town  of  Fayetteville. 

All  the  tribes  in  North  Carolina,  except  the  Tuscaroras,  were 
originally  Cherokee  if  we  accept  tradition.  The  Tuscaroras  were  at 
war  with  the  Cherokee  Nation,  which  was  a  mountain  tribe  using 
the  eastern  portion  of  our  State  as  a  hunting  ground.  Permanent 
settlements  were  made  along  these  great  trails,  and  the  Indians 
traveled  back  and  forth  along  these  trails,  and  occasionally  imigrants 
from  eastern  North  Carohna  now  travel  on  the  old  Lowrie  Road 
toward  the  Pedee  and  Catawba  Rivers.  The  Indians  on  the  coast 
were  friendly  to  white  men  at  first,  and  those  now  known  as  Croatans 
claim  that  they  were  always  the  friends  of  white  men;  that  they 
received  the  white  colony  left  on  Roanoke  Island  in  1587,  and 
amalgamated  with  them.  They  have  about  40  family  names 
among  them  that  are  found  in  the  families  left  in  Roanoke  Island  as 
preserved  by  Haklyt.     See  Hawks'  History  of  North  Carolina,  vol.  1. 

These  Indians,  numbering  nearly  6,000,  have  no  records.  The 
oldest  deed  in  Robeson  County  is  one  made  by  George  II  to  Henry 
Berry  and  James  Lowrie  in  1732.  This  deed  was  lost  through  care- 
lessness of  a  surveyor.  I  have  seen  and  handled  that  deed,  which 
called  for  100  acres  of  land  in  upper  Robeson,  now  Hoke,  at  present 
owned  by  Hon.  D.  P.  McEachern,  of  Red  Springs. 

I  was  in  search  of  different  persons  among  these  people  many  years 
ago,  and  they  located  some  of  them  in  Florida,  western  North  Caro- 
hna, and  New  Mexico.  Many  of  the  Indians  in  Robeson  County  in 
1713  joined  "Bonnul"  in  fighting  the  Tuscaroras  near  Pamhco 
Sound.  C'Bonnul"  was  Gen.  Barn weU.)  Handed  down  from  father 
to  son  through  many  generations  is  the  universal  tradition  that  their 
ancestors  were  Cherokees. 

Since  their  recognition  as  a  separate  race  they  have  made  wonder- 
ful progress.  Their  hatred  of  the  Negro  is  stronger  than  that  enter- 
tained by  Caucasians. 

A  crowd  of  Indians  from  Macon  County  was  present  before  a 
joint  committee  of  the  senate  and  house  in  1913,  in  Raleigh,  N.  C, 
and  lined  up  with  them  were  Indians  from  Robeson.     The  resem- 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CABOLINA,  243 

blance  was  very  striking,  so  much  so  that  Senator  G.  B.  McLeod, 
coming  before  the  committee,  mistook  the  western  Cherokees  as 
Robeson  Comity  Indians. 

I  am  pleased  to  learn  that  you  will  spend  some  time  in  your  inves- 
gation.  You  will  find  much  ignorance  among  them  as  to  their  origin, 
as  they  leave  the  traditions  of  the  tribe  to  the  old  chroniclers  of  the 
tribe,  and  these  chroniclers  are  passing  away. 

Several  of  these  Indians  have  lived  among  the  Cherokees  in  Indian 
Territory — notably  Washington  Lowrie,  now  Hving  but  a  helpless 
invahd.  Their  ancestors  fought  for  American  independence  and 
again  served  in  War  of  1812.  See  records  in  office  of  adjutant  gen- 
eral at  Raleigh,  N.  C. 

The  names  Lowrie  and  LocMayah  and  Oxendine  are  the  only  Indian 
dian  names  I  can  find  among  them,  and  these  are  Cherokee  names. 

Wishing  you  abundant  success  in  your  work  and  with  my  best 
wishes, 

I  am,  respectfully,  yours, 

Hamilton  McMillan. 

P.  S. — I  am  somewhat  an  invalid,  and  my  penmanship  may  trouble 
you  to  decipher. 

H.  McMillan. 


Lumberton,  N.  C,  Jvly  30, 191J^. 
Superintendent  of  Schools  of  Hoke  County, 

Raeford,  N.  G. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  been  sent  to  Lumberton,  N.  C,  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior  to  make  an  investigation  of  the  condition  and  tribal 
rights  of  the  Indians  residing  in  Robeson  and  adjoining  counties  in 
North  Carohna.  I  am  advised  by  Hon.  W.  P.  Wood,  State  auditor, 
that  there  are  a  few  Indians  in  Hoke  County. 

I  wiU  thank  you  very  much  to  send  me,  to  Lumberton,  N.  C,  at 
your  earhest  convenience,  such  facts  and  information  as  are  shown 
by  the  records  and  files  of  Hoke  County  respecting  the  number  of 
Indians  in  your  county ;  the  number  of  families ;  number  of  children 
of  school  age;  number  attending  school;  the  school  facihties  pro- 
vided by  the  State  and  county  for  the  Indians ;  the  kind  and  value  of 
their  property;  amount  of  their  property  listed  for  taxation,  and 
any  other  information  respecting  the  Indians  which  you  think  would 
be  of  value  to  me  in  the  investigation  I  am  making.  An  early  re- 
sponse will  be  appreciated. 

Very  respectfully,  O.  M.  McPherson, 

Special  Indian  Agent. 

Board  of  Education,  Hoke  County, 

Raeford,  N.  C,  August  4,  1914. 
Mr.  O.  M.  McPherson, 

Lumberton,  N.  C. 
Dear  Sir  :  In  reply  to  your  letter,  I  will  give  you  what  information 
I  can  concerning  the  Indians  in  Hoke  County.  There  has  never  been 
a  census  of  the  county  taken  since  it  was  established,  three  years  ago, 
and  consequently  the  only  information  that  I  can  give  will  have  to 
come  from  the  tax  books. 


244  INDIANS  OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

I  think  that  there  are  a  few  Indians  and  part  Indians  scattered 
about  aU  over  the  county,  but  in  the  tax  books  they  are  listed  sepa- 
rately in  two  townships,  Allendale  and  Antioch.  Their  polls  and 
property  is  as  f oUows : 

PoUs,  $32.  Value  live  stock,  $2,782;  farming  utensils,  etc.,  $529; 
household  and  kitchen  furniture,  etc.,  $250;  bicycles,  etc.,  $15;  jew- 
elry, $9;  land,  6  acres,  value  $60.  Total  value  personal  property, 
$3,584;  total,  real  and  personal  property,  $3,644. 

We  have  never  been  able  to  get  a  complete  census  of  the  school 
children,  but  I  think  that  there  are  about  65  or  70.  We  established 
a  school  for  them  last  year,  but  they  taught  only  two  months  of  school, 
at  a  salary  of  $25  per  month.  The  enrollment  was  33.  We  are 
planning  to  establish  another  school  for  them  the  coming  year  and  to 
continue  the  one  they  had  last  year. 

The  Indians  that  we  have,  as  you  see  from  the  amount  of  land  that 
they  own,  are  not  permanent  settlers,  but  tenants.  This  being  the 
case,  it  is  a  pretty  hard  problem  to  know  just  how  to  deal  with  them. 
I  would  be  very  glad  if  you  could  suggest  some  way  that  we  can  deal 
with  them  in  the  way  of  education.  They  are  good  laborers  and  are 
continually  spreading  out  into  new  territory.  They  are  roixed  in 
with  the  whites  and  colored  people,  and  we  have  to  maintain  three 
separate  schools  covering  the  same  territory,  and  this,  as  you  know, 
is  very  expensive. 

I  would  be  glad  to  have  you  visit  this  county  while  you  are  in  this 
section,  and  for  you  to  see  the  exact  status  of  the  Indians  here.     If 
you  can  come  up  for  a  day  or  two,  let  me  know  in  advance  so  that  I 
can  be  here  to  meet  you. 
Very  truly,  yours, 

J.  A.  McGooGAN, 

County  Superintendejit. 

LuMBERTON,  N.  C,  August  4,  1914- 
Publisher  The  Charlotte  Observer, 

Charlotte,  N.  C. 
Dear  Sir:  I  am  advised  that  Col.  Fred.  A.  Olds,  secretary  North 
Carolina  Historical  Association,  early  in  the  summer  of  1908  made  a 
visit  to  the  Croatan  Indians  of  Robeson  County,  N.  C,  and  wrote  an 
extended  account  of  his  visit,  which  was  published  in  the  Charlotte 
Observer  of  June  21,  1908.  If  a  copy  of  said  issue  is  available  for 
distribution  I  will  thank  you  very  much  to  send  me  a  copy.  I  am 
making  an  investigation  of  the  affairs  of  the  Croatan  Indians  in 
obedience  to  Senate  resolution  410. 
Very  respectfully, 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 

Charlotte,  N.  C,  August  10,  1914- 
Mr.  O.  M.  McPherson, 

Lumherton,  N.  C. 

Dear  Sir  :  In  reply  to  your  letter  of  recent  date,  we  regret  to  state 

that  we  are  unable  to  furnish  you  with  a  copy  of  The  Observer  of 

June  21,  1908.     The  only  copy  we  have  of  this  is  in  our  bound  file. 

It  covers  about  12  columns,  or  nearly  2  pages  in  our  paper.     If  at 


INDIANS   OF    NOETH   CAEOLHSTA.  245 

any  time  you  are  in  this  city  we  will  be  glad  to  lend  you  our  files  so 
that  you  can  read  this  article,  or  we  could  have  same  typewritten 
for  5  cents  per  typewritten  sheet. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

The  Observer  Co., 
Paul  H.  Brown, 

Circulation  Manager. 

Department  of  the  Interior, 
Office  Commissioner  Indian  Affairs, 

Washington,  August  4,  1914- 
Mr.  O.  M.  McPherson, 

Special  Agent,  United  States  Indian  Service, 

Lumberton,  N.  C. 
My  Dear  Mr.  McPherson:  I  understand  there  is  to  be  a  meeting 
of  the  Croatan  Indians  on  the  11th  of  August  and  that  this  meeting 
is  likely  to  develop  more  or  less  things  of  interest  along  the  line  of  your 
inquiry.  Consequently,  I  suggest  that  you  take  advantage  of  the 
coming  together  of  this  body  of  Indians,  and  thereby  acquire  all  the 
additional  dependable  information  possible. 

It  is  my  desire  that  you  shall  get  at  the  exact  facts  regardless  of 
resolutions  or  expressions  of  interest.  It  is  the  facts  we  want,  and 
on  them  alone  will  we  be  able  to  draw  satisfactory  conclusions. 
Please  make  your  investigation  thorough  to  the  end  that  there  will  be 
no  occasion  for  its  repetition,  as  we  are  now  being  called  upon  to  do. 
Sincerely  yours, 

Cato  Sells, 
Commissioner. 

Lumberton,  N.  C,  August  6,  1914. 
Hon.  Cato  Sells, 

Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  Washington,  D.  C. 

My  Dear  Mr.  Sells  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt 
of  your  letter  of  August  4,  1914,  concerning  my  investigation  of  the 
condition,  tribal  rights,  etc.,  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson  and  adjoining 
counties  in  North  Carolina. 

I  beg  to  say  in  reply  that  prior  to  the  receipt  of  your  letter  I  had 
made  arrangements  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  so-caUed  Croatan 
Indians  at  Pembroke,  on  August  11,  and  had  so  advised  the  leading 
Indians  of  the  band. 

On  Monday,  August  3,  I  visited  the  homes  of  a  large  number  of 
Indians  living  southwest  of  Lumberton  in  what  are  known  as  the 
Sampson  and  Hunt  settlements.  I  took  notes  of  their  condition  and 
conferred  freely  with  them  concerning  their  history,  tribal  rights, 
needs,  conditions,  and  as  to  what  Congress  could  best  do  for  them. 
Tuesday,  August  4,  I  conferred  with  a  large  number  of  the  Indians  in 
Lumberton,  along  the  same  lines,  who  had  come  in  by  arrangement 
t )  meet  me  for  such  a  conference.  Yesterday  I  spent  the  entire  day  at 
Pembroke  in  a  similar  conference  wdth  the  Indians  of  the  Pembroke 
neighborhood,  and  conferred  with  a  very  large  number.  I  had  made 
arrangements  to  visit  the  homes  of  the  Indians  of  the  Pembroke  dis- 
trict to-day,  but  had  to  postpone  the  trip  on  account  of  rainy  weather. 
I  shall  go  to-morrow  if  the  weather  permits,  and  shall  spend  Monday  in 


246  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAEOLINA. 

a  similar  visit  to  a  different  part  of  the  Indian  settlement;  and  as  1 
have  said,  I  shall  attend  the  Indian  meeting  at  Pembroke  on 
August  11. 

1  wish  to  assure  you  that  I  am  making  my  investigation  as  thorough 
as  possible,  and  shaU  put  forth  my  best  efforts  to  get  at  the  "bottom 
facts." 

With  kindest  regards,  I  am,  very  sincerely  yours, 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 

Indian  Mass  Meeting,  Tuesday,  August  11. 

There  wiU  be  a  mass  meeting  of  the  Indians  at  the  normal  school 
building  in  the  town  of  Pembroke  on  Tuesday,  August  11,  1914,  at 
10  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  for  the  purpose  of  considering  all  matters  in 
which  the  Indians  are  interested  ooth  with  reference  to  schools,  the 
change  of  name,  and  any  other  business  which  may  be  necessary. 

This  meeting  is  called  at  the  request  of  Senator  Simmons  and  Con- 
gressman Godwin  for  the  purpose  of  getting  our  people  together 
upon  important  matters.  The  time  and  place  of  meeting  have  been 
agreed  upon  by  representatives  of  every  section.  We  urgently 
request  the  Indians  not  only  of  Robeson,  but  of  all  adjoining  counties, 
to  attend  this  meeting,  as  matters  of  the  greatest  importance  will  be 
transacted. 

Senator  Simmons,  Congressman  Godwin,   and  others  have  been 
invited  to  be  present  and  address  our  people. 
Let  as  many  as  possible  bring  dinner. 

Stephen  A.  Hammond, 
G.  H  .  C,  Order  ofRedmen. 
J,  A.  Hunt, 
G.  F.  M.,  Order  of  Rainbow. 
Stephen  Hunt, 
Avener  Chavis, 
Trot  Cummins, 

Committee  of  invitation. 

Department  of  the  Interior, 

Washington,  August  14,  191 4. 
Auditor  Robeson  County, 

Lumherton,  N.  C. 
Dear  Sir:  If  you  have  not  already  done  so,  I  will  thank  you  very 
much  to  send  me  by  return  mail,  the  property  statistics,  from  the 
records  of  your  office,  of  the  so-called  Croatan  Indians  of  Robeson 
County. 

An  early  reply  would  be  very  much  appreciated. 
Very  respectfully, 

0.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 

WasJiington,  D.  C,  September  15,  1914. 
No  reply  has  been  received  from  the  auditor  of  Robeson  County 
to  the  above  request  for  information. 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent 


indians  of  north  carolina.  247 

Department  of  the  Interior, 

Washington,  August  I4,  1914- 
Superintendent  of  Public  Schools, 

Lumberton,  N.  C. 
Dear  Sir:  If  you  have  not  already  done  so,  I  will  thank  you  very 
much  to  send  me  by  return  mail  the  school  statistics  of  the  so-called 
Croatan  Indians  of  Robeson  County  for  the  school  years  1912  and  1913. 
An  early  reply  would  be  very  much  appreciated. 
Very  respectfully, 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 

Board  op  Education,  Eobeson  County, 

Lumberton,  N.  C,  August  19, 1914- 
Mr.  0.  M.  McPherson, 

Washington,  D.  G. 
Dear  Sir:  Replying  to  your  favor  of  few  days  ago,  in  regard  to 
the  Indian  schools  of  Robeson  County,  I  beg  to  submit  the  following 
statistics,  as  they  appear  of  record  in  this  department: 

Scholastic  year  1912-13. 

Census  (6  to  21).. 2,643 

Enrollment  (6  to  21) 1,662 

Average  daily  attendance  (6  to  21) 970 

Twenty-seven  different  schools  were  taught  by  32  different  teachers 
(21  male  and  11  female  teachers).  These  schools  were  taught  in 
27  different  buildings,  which,  together  with  sites  on  which  they  stood, 
were  valued  at  S7,900.  The  average  length  of  term  was  85.70  days 
for  all  Indian  schools  in  the  county.  In  the  special-tax  districts  the 
term  averaged  111.43;  in  those  districts  which  did  not  have  a  special 
tax  the  term  averaged  80.54  days.  During  the  year  1912-13,  S500 
was  expended  for  repairs  on  school  buildings  and  $5,475.25  for 
teachers'  salaries. 

Scholastic  year  1913-14. 

Census 2,  948 

Enrollment  (6  to  21) 1,854 

Average  attendance  (6  to  21) 1, 164 

Twenty-seven  different  schools  were  taught  by  36  different  teachers. 
We  had  the  same  number  of  school  buildings  as  in  the  former  year, 
but  $1,160  was  spent  during  the  year  for  new  buildings,  repairs,  etc., 
bringing  the  total  valuation  up  to  $9,060.  The  average  length  of  term 
in  all  the  Indian  schools  of  the  county  was  102.66  days,  in  the  special- 
tax  schools  104,  and  in  those  districts  which  do  not  have  special  tax 
100.30  days;  $6,410.25  was  paid  for  teachers'  salaries.  The  Indians 
at  present  have  nine  special-tax  districts  and  a  number  of  others  wiD 
probably  be  estabUshed  this  year. 

It  might  be  well  to  note  that  in  the  figures  given  above,  the  census 
includes  all  the  children  of  school  age  in  the  county,  while  the  figures 
giving  the  enrollment  and  average  attendance  include  only  those  in 
the  county  pubhc  schools  and  do  not  include  those  who  enrolled  and 
attended  at  the  State  normal  at  Pembroke. 


248  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

As  it  now  stands  these  people  have  no  educational  opportunities 
beyond  those  offered  by  the  local  public  schools  and  the  State  normal 
at  Pembroke.  When  these  have  been  completed  there  are  no  other 
institutions  anywhere  in  this  section  of  the  country  to  which  they 
can  go  for  industrial  or  professional  training. 
Yours,  very  truly, 

J.  R.  Poole. 


Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Washington,  August  19,  191 4- 
Mr.  A.  W.  McLean, 

Attorney  at  Law,  Lumberton,  N.  C. 
Dear  Sir  :  Referring  to  our  conversation  before  I  left  Lumberton, 
I  have  to  advise  you  that  so  far  as  I  now  know  I  shall  submit  my 
report  in  the  matter  of  the  investigation  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson 
and  adjoining  counties  in  North  Carohna,  before  I  take  my  vacation. 
Any  matter  which  you  care  to  submit  in  connection  with  the  investi- 
gation should  be  sent  to  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  as  early 
as  practicable. 

Very  respectfully, 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 


The  Bank  of  Lumberton, 

Lumberton,  N.  G.,  August  28, 191^. 
Mr.  O.  M  McPherson, 

Special  Indian  Agent,  Department  of  the  Interior, 

Washington,  D.  0. 
Dear  Sir:  I  have  your  letter  of  the  19th,  and  just  as  soon  as  I  can 
get  a  httle  time  I  wiU  try  and  send  you  the  further  data  in  regard  to 
the  Indians  of  Robeson  County.     I  wiU  probably  send  this  in  in  the 
next  two  weeks.     If  that  will  be  satisfactory,  please  let  me  know. 
Yours,  truly, 

A.  W.  McLean. 


Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Washington,  August  SI,  1914- 
Mr.  A.  W.  McLean, 

President  of  Bank  of  Lumberton,  Lumberton,  N.  0. 
Dear  Sir:  Answering  your  letter  of  August  28,  you  are  advised 
that  any  matter  reaching  me  by  September  7  or  8  wiU  be  in  time  for 
consideration  in  my  report  of  investigations  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson 
County. 

Very  respectfully, 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 


INDIANS   OF   NORTH    CAEOLINA.  249 

Pembroke,  N.  C,  August  25,  191  j^. 
Mr.  McPherson. 

Sm:  I  am  writing  you  a  few  lines  to  let  you  hear  from  me.  I 
am  well  at  present,  truly  hoping  you  the  same.  I  will  ask  you 
a  favor  if  it  is  not  out  of  order  for  you  to  answer.  If  you  please  let 
me  know  about  what  date  you  will  be  able  to  make  your  report  to 
the  Indian  Commissioner,  as  I  would  Uke  to  come  up  there  about 
that  time,  and  I  hope  that  I  am  not  out  of  order  by  asking  you  this 
favor. 

Write  at  once  to  yours  truly, 

Wm.  Lowry. 


Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Washington,  August  28,  1914. 
Mr.  William  Lowry, 

Pembroke,  N.  C. 
Dear  Sir:    I  have  received  your  letter  of  August  25,  inquiring 
when  I  will  file  my  report  in  the  matter  of  the  investigation  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Indians  of  Robeson  Comity,  N.  C. 

In  reply  you  are  advised  that  I  expect  to  be  able  to  file  my  report 
in  said  case  about  September  15.  It  must  be  understood  that  this 
is  only  an  approximate  date,  as  some  unforeseen  event  might  delay 
the  filing  of  my  report  several  days.  Will  be  glad  to  see  you  at 
Washington  whenever  you  can  make  it  convenient  to  come. 
Very  respectfully, 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 

Pembroke,  N.  C,  August  27,  1914- 
Mr.  McPherson, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Dear  Sir:    Do  you  think  it  necessary  for  the  committee  to  be  in 
Washington  at  the  time  when  you  submit  your  report  for  your  visit 
to  Eobeson  County  ? 

Mr.  Wm.  Lowne,  Abner  Chavis,  and  myself  are  the  committee. 
Kindly  advise  me  at  your  earhest  convenience. 
Very  respectfully, 

W.  R.  LOCKLEAE. 


Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Washington,  August  29,  1914- 

Mr.  W.  R.  LOCKLEAR, 

Pembrolce,  N.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  received  your  letter  of  August  27,  inquiring 
whether  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  committee  of  Indians  to  be  in 
Washington  when  I  file  my  report  in  the  matter  of  the  investigation 
directed  by  Senate  resolution  No.  410. 

In  response,  you  are  advised  that  in  my  opinion  it  wUl  not  be 
necessary  for  your  committee  to  be  here  when  I  file  my  report;  1 


250  INDIANS   OF   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

can  not  see  what  the  committee  could  accomplish  by  being  here  at 
that  time. 

In  the  ordinary  com-se  of  business  my  report  wiU  be  sent  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and  by  him  will  be  transmitted  to  Congress, 
in  case  he  is  of  the  opinion  that  my  report  covers  all  the  essential 
facts.  Whatever  your  committee  can  accompUsh  will  be  through 
the  proper  committees  in  Congress. 

Very  respectfully,  O.  M.  McPherson, 

Special  Indian  Agent. 

St.  Pauls,  N.  C,  September  1,  I914. 
Mr.  O.  M.  McPherson, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Dear  Sir:  Please  grant  me  this  privilege  of  writing  you.  I  am 
weU  and  trust  you  are  enjoying  life  with  the  greatest  of  pleasure. 
I  do  this  to  hear  from  you.  Can  you  teU  me  anything  that  is  good 
about  our  affairs?  Would  you  like  to  have  my  picture  with  my 
hunting  suit  ? 

And  if  so,  I  will  mail  you  one. 
Yours  truly, 

A.  Chavis. 


Department  of  the  Interior, 

Office  of  Indian  Affairs, 
Washington,  September  3,  1914. 
Mr.  Abner  Chavis, 

St.  Pauls,  N.  a 
Dear  Mr.  Chavis:    I  have  received  you  letter  of  September  1st, 
inquiring  whether  I  have  anything  good  to  tell  you  about  the  affairs 
of  the  Robeson  County  Indians,  and  whether  I  would  hke  to  have 
one  of  your  pictures  taken  in  your  hunting  suit. 

In  reply  you  are  advised  that  I  have  not  yet  filed  my  report  in  the 
investigation  of  the  affairs  of  the  Kobeson  County  Indians;  I  hope 
to  be  able  to  file  my  report  within  a  week. 

I  regret  that  I  did  not  take  a  camera  with  me  so  that  I  could  have 
procured  a  large  number  of  pictures  of  the  Indians.     However,  I 
would  be  glad  to  have  your  picture  for  my  own  use,  but  I  could  not 
use  one  picture  to  advantage  in  my  report. 
Very  truly  yours, 

O.  M.  McPherson, 
Special  Indian  Agent. 

Washington,  D.  C,  August  29, 1914-. 

Dear  Mr.  McPherson:  Referring  to  our  conversation  in  regard 
to  the  matter  of  the  Croatan  Indians  of  North  Carolina,  I  beg  to 
hand  you  herewith  a  copy  of  H.  R.  19036  introduced  January  29, 
1910,  by  Mr.  Godwin,  entitled  a  bill  to  change  the  name  of  the  Croatan 
Indians  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina  to  their  original  name, 
Cherokee. 

I  also  inclose  you  an  extract  concerning  the  Croatan  Indians  from 
the  first  volume  of  the  Hand  Book  of  Anierican  Indians.     If  there 


INDIANS   OP   KOETH   CABOLINA.  251 

is  any  further  information  I  can  furnish  you  concerning  these  people, 
kindly  let  me  know. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

Charles  J.  Kappler. 

P.  S. — I  also  inclose -a  copy  of  the  hearings  had  before  the  House 
Committee  on  Indian  Affairs  on  S.  bill  3258  "To  acquire  a  site  and 
erect  buildings  for  a  school  for  the  Indians  of  Robeson  County, 
N.  C,  and  for  other  purposes,"  which  passed  the  Senate.  This  bill 
was  an  effort  to  do  something  for  these  Indians. 


[H.  R.  19036,  Sixty-first  Congress,  second  session.] 

In  the  House  of  Representatives. 

January  24,  1910.— Mr.  Godwin  introduced  the  following  bill;  which  was  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 

A  BILL  To  change  the  name  of  the  Croatan  Indians  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina 
to  their  original  name,  Cherokee. 

Whereas  the  Croatan  Indians  who  now  reside  in  the  State  of  North 
Carolina  are  a  branch  of  the  Cherokee  Tribe  of  Indians  and  are 
desirous  of  changing  their  name  to  the  original  name,  Cherokee: 
Now,  therefore, 

Be  it  enacted  hy  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America  in  Congress  a^semhled,  That  the  name  of  the  band 
of  Croatan  Indians  in  said  State  of  North  Carolina  be,  and  the  same 
is  hereby,  changed  to  Cherokee,  by  which  name  they  shall  be  here- 
after known  and  designated. 

[Hand  Book  of  American  Indians,  Bulletin  30,  part  1,  page  365.] 

Croatan.  A  village  in  1585  on  an  island  then  called  by  the  same 
name,  which  appears  to  have  been  that  on  which  Cape  Lookout  is 
situated,  on  the  coast  of  Carteret  County,  N.  C.  The  inhabitants 
seem  to  have  been  independent  of  the  chiefs  of  Secotan.  It  is 
thought  that  the  lost  colony  of  Lane,  on  Roanoke  Island,  joined 
them,  and  that  traces  of  the  mixture  were  discernible  in  the  later 
Hatteras  Indians.     (J.  M.) 

Croatan.— Lhne  (1586)  in  Smith  (1629),  Virginia,  1,  92,  repr.  1819. 
Croatoan. — Strachey  (ca.  1612),  Virginia,  43,  145,  1849.  Crooton. — 
Lane,  op.  cit.,  86. 

Croatan  Indians.  The  legal  designation  in  North  Carolina  fv)r  a 
people  evidently  of  mixed  Indian  and  white  blood,  found  in  various 
eastern  sections  of  the  State,  but  chiefly  in  Robeson  County,  and 
numbering  approximately  5,000.  For  many  years  I  hey  were  classed 
with  the  free  negroes,  but  steadily  refused  to  accept  such  classifica- 
tion or  to  attend  the  negro  schools  or  churches,  claiming  to  be  the 
descendants  of  the  early  native  tribes  and  of  white  settlers  who  had 
intermarried  with  them.  About  20  years  ago  their  claim  was  offi- 
cially recognized  and  they  were  given  a  separate  legal  existence  under 
the  title  of  ''Croatan  Indians,"  on  the  theory  of  descent  from  Ra- 
leigh's lost  colony  of  Croatan  (q.  v.).     Under  this  name  they  now 


252  INDIANS   OP   NORTH   CAROLINA. 

have  separate  school  provision,  and  are  admitted  to  some  privileges 
not  accorded  to  the  negroes.  The  theory  of  descent  from  the  lost 
colony  may  be  regarded  as  baseless,  but  the  name  itself  serves  as  a 
convenient  label  for  a  people  who  combine  in  themselves  the  blood  of 
the  wasted  native  tribes,  the  early  colonists  or  forest  rovers,  the 
runaway  slaves  or  other  negroes,  and  probably  also  of  stray  seamen 
of  the  Latin  races  from  coasting  vessels  in  the  West  Indian  or  Bra- 
zilian trade. 

Across  the  line  in  South  Carolina  are  found  a  people,  evidently  of 
similar  origin,  designated  "Redbones."  In  portions  of  western 
North  Carolina  and  eastern  Tennessee  are  found  the  so-called  "Me- 
lungeons"  (probably  from  French  melange,  "mixed"),  or  "Portu- 
guese," apparently  an  offshoot  from  the  Croatan  proper,  and  in  Dela- 
ware are  found  the  "Moors."  All  of  these  are  local  designations  for 
peoples  of  mixed  race  with  an  Indian  nucleous  differing  in  no  way 
from  the  present  mixed-blood  remnants  known  as  Pamunkey, 
Chickahominy,  and  Nansemond  Indians  in  Virginia,  excepting  in  the 
more  complete  loss  of  their  identity.  In  general,  the  physical  fea- 
tures and  complexion  of  the  persons  of  this  mixed  stock  incline  more 
to  the  Indian  than  to  the  white  or  negro. 

See  Metis,  Mixed  Bloods.     (J.  M.) 

o 


